A Wish to an End
by Tama Saga
Summary: Ninjas wonder why the gods have abandoned them. They haven't. The gods were never with them in the first place. So why is Naruto living with a goddess named Skuld? OMG xover. Support Characters: Hanabi H, Fem Naru, Miya, Banpei II san.
1. Ch1: Don't Give Kids Wishes

_You've heard Belldandy's story. Years later, it's now Skuld's turn to look after a silly boy. Here are their adventures together. _

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A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

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_Thoughts  
_∗**Sounds**∗  
"Speech"  
(Whisper)  
**Ethereal Voice  
**- Location -

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Naruto and Ah! My Goddess. They belong to their creators, and I'm just borrowing them for the purpose of this story.

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_Chapter 1: You're not an adult anymore, Skuld._

Chapter Characters: Naruto, Skuld

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- Phone Booth somewhere in Konoha -

It started out simply enough.

A 10 year-old-blond boy grunted as he struggled to the top of a precarious stack of phone books. His mission was the phone...he had a prank call to make to the teacher that decided to fail him.

However, life can be downright mean sometimes...

...∗**Plink**∗ went the ryo as it slipped from his fingers and bounced off the metal ledge beneath the phone that usually held a phone book.

He watched as the coin continued to fall downwards until it bounced off of the tiled floor where it bounced once, twice, and then rolled a short distance before finally clattering to a rest.

"Kuso," the boy cursed softly, trying not to draw attention from outside. With a hop, he was off of the stack of books and on the ground.

That slight push from his feet was all that was needed. Before he could climb back up after fetching the coin, the unstable tower collapsed with a muffled thud.

Sky-blue eyes stared dully at the ground for a moment. At the same time, the boy tightened his hands into fists. His fingernails pressed hard enough against the palm of his hands to draw a spot of blood. It was so hard to resist kicking what was left of the stack and scream in frustration.

But the critical moment passed.

With great effort, the boy finally managed to force a large smile onto his face. One that didn't quite reach his eyes. It was an unnatural look, but none of the nearby pedestrians were laughing or running away, so it was safe to assume that none of them were looking in to see. Moving mechanically, the blonde boy restacked the phone books, picked up his coin, and climbed back up the unstable tower.

Picking up the phone from where he dropped it, Naruto threw the coin into the slot without missing this time.

His spirit slightly restored after this small success, he began punching in a string of numbers. Soon after, the boy started hopping impatiently as he listened to the phone ring. The tower that he was standing on started to shake again…

∗**Kachunk**∗ Someone picked up at the other end!

"Hello..." said a female voice on the other end. But he wasn't given a chance to edge in a word as the voice on the other end continued to speak without pause, "...you have reached the Goddess Relief Hotline, please wait as a representative will be there shortly to handle your request."

The boy listened to this with wide eyed shock. _Hah? _The tower that he was standing on couldn't hold itself anymore, and it fell over once again taking the stunned boy with it. Nerveless fingers released the phone as the boy landed backfirst upon the heap of books. There he lay in surprise, shocked that his prank failed by, of anything…another prank!

_Must get out of here…_ Naruto realized. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that someone knew where he was and he was going to be in big trouble soon. In an instant, the phone booth was empty, the only evidence that someone had been there was a pile of phone books scattered on the floor, and an unhooked phone limply swinging around right above them.

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- Rundown Part of Konoha -

It was quiet. The only thing breaking the silence was the hurried gait of a stranger trying to leave this area as quickly as possible. As his footsteps slowly fade away, there was a ∗**Crash!**∗ as a door slammed shut.

Safely inside of his apartment, Naruto took the time to gasp for air and calm his nerves. It seemed like someone had been determinedly following him throughout the entire run. It wasn't fair! He was going to be punished and he hadn't caused any trouble yet. Well, he wasn't going to let them take him without a fight.

Naruto's trap making skills were very impressive to say the least…in a matter of seconds, the front door was pretty much impenetrable to an army with the Hokage in the lead…and all of it was done using paint, rope, and a carton of spoiled milk.

He was busy rigging the third layer of traps, which would activate if the first layer failed to halt the intruders, when someone asked a question from behind him, "What are you doing?"

"They're after me," was the blonde boy's choked reply as he wrestled with an unyielding widget. "I'm not letting them take me alive!" there was a pause as the Kyuubi container fought some more, "Grr, can you hold this?" he asked in a strained voice.

…a moment later, there was a click indicating that the trap was ready.

"Thanks!" the blonde boy happily cheered as he turned to the one that helped him. His helper turned out to be a young woman in a simple white dress with red trim. She had long black hair, brown eyes, strange markings on her face, and a weird hammer strapped to her back.

There was an admiring look on her face as she examined the complicated mouse trap in front of them. "Not bad." she commented.

"Hey, wait..." Naruto slowly said.

Seemingly aware that he was now staring at her, the woman looked down at him with an impish smirk.

"Hiya Naruto! I'm the goddess Skuld, first class, second category, limited. I'm here to grant your fondest wish." the woman cheerfully said with a small curtsy, introducing herself to the boy that was now wearing a grotesque expression of shock.

"Huh, wha?! Y-you shouldn't be in here! How do you know my name?" The fox container stuttered as he started searching frantically for an escape route.

"I'm not a ninja," Skuld reassured the boy. Then, as if there was an invisible speaker in the room, she started to reply to thin air. She started with, "You trapped the front door, remember?" there was a pause before she answered again, "I don't know, that window looks sort of small," she adopted a glare, "Don't even think about it," then she smiled at the obvious, "Yes, I'm reading your mind."

"Well stop it!" the blonde boy all but shouted at the other one in his room.

The goddess winced and covered her ears. "You little brat! Until you make a wish, I can't turn it off!"

"Quit insulting me!" the fox-container shouted in outrage. "You're looking at the future Hokage here! Show some respect."

"Hokage?" Skuld gasped, she stared at the blonde boy as if he had grown another head.

He returned the stare with a defiant one of his own. "Are you a ninja then?" she finally asked.

"The best!" the blonde boy proclaimed, conveniently forgetting that he was still an academy student.

With an odd look of disbelief, the goddess ran into the kitchen. Naruto quickly ran after her, only to see the strange lady disappear into a small puddle near his sink.

"Not a ninja?" the boy asked nobody as he stared at her disappearing act in disbelief.

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- Remember that Phone Booth that was somewhere in Konoha? -

"Ninjas are never candidates for wishes," came a mellow voice from over the phone.

"I know that…" Skuld ground out. So why does my client get a wish?

"Ara? Hold on...let me check..." There was a pause. "...Uzumaki Naruto correct?" At Skuld's grunt of agreement, the goddess on the other end continued, "Age ten...wow, to get a wish at such a young age. Of course, there are still younger clients...why, I remember Aoba Kozue...6 years old..."

"Get on with it!" The black haired lady shouted into the phone.

She immediately hung up the phone and adopted a chagrinned look when she noticed those outside peering in curiously.

She left the booth and sought out another public phone. There! She dialed the number again.

"Moshi mosh-i?" came the voice from the other end.

"Well?" she impatiently asked, taking great pains not to attract attention this time.

"Skuld? You wanted to know more about Kozue-chan?"

"No! Uzumaki Naruto!" She ignored the curious onlookers.

"Okay okay! You don't have to shout." There was a rustling of papers on the other end. "U-zu-ma-ki...Naruto...I see, your client is currently attending the Academy. Because he isn't a ninja yet, he is still eligible for a wish."

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"I said..."

"I heard what you said. But why? Is it...is he..."

"Could you repeat that?"

"Is he going to be a ninja in the future?"

"Why are you asking me? Aren't you the goddess of the future?"

"That's just a title!" Skuld shouted into the phone before she quickly slammed the phone down on the hook again when she realized that the people passing by were looking in curiously.

It made no sense, if he was going to be a ninja eventually, why did he still get a wish?

If she were still on the phone, the voice on the other end would have said, "True...but heaven works in strange ways sometimes. There is not much that I could do, but I'll forward your complaint to the right department. Anyway, much as I'd like to continue chatting, don't you have a job to do?"

Thankfully, she didn't call back, otherwise she would have been billed for the eventual crater that the phone booth would become. And then she would have Father to deal with...

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- Rundown Part of Konoha -

"Uzumaki-san right? Sorry about that," she sweetly said as she reappeared inside of his apartment. She found the boy dismantling the three layer trap that he had created earlier. He jumped at the sound of her voice, causing an audible twang in the process. They both shouted as several practice Kunai suddenly shot out from nowhere. When the ferocious barrage finally ended, the two found themselves in an odd position. One was hiding behind the other while the other was contorted in such a way that looked almost painful.

They stood there for a moment, breathing heavily. And then he rounded on her to reprimand her. "Don't you know it's impolite to sneak up on peop- Eh? Ah! Wish-granting Obaachan is back!" the boy shouted pointing at her.

"O-obaachan?" Skuld slowly ground out.

Before Naruto could reply, a fist whistled toward his head. A mushroom cloud shot into the sky...

...or would have if it was a million times stronger. Naruto still found himself nursing a sizeable bump on his noggin however.

"Okay, here's the deal. I don't know why, but you get a wish, any wish," the goddess coolly explained to the sulking boy.

"Really? A wish? Any wish?!" Naruto repeated in disbelief.

"And only one wish, so make it count," she quietly said before her mouth set in a firm line.

"Can it be all the ramen in the world?" He asked, surprising the goddess at how quickly he believed her. Normally wish givers spent at least an hour convincing their intended recipient that they were not joking.

The icy facade disappeared when she sweatdropped. "Err...ahh...well yes, but if you wished for that...I'm afraid ramen would disappear from the rest of the world."

Naruto recoiled in horror. "Noo!" he suddenly brightened up as something else occurred to him. "Then how about becoming the strongest ninja in the world?" he quickly asked.

"Strongest isn't the best Naruto," she pointed out in a wise voice.

"Then...then...I wish..."

Skuld, who had been standing there boredly suddenly panicked as she noticed how the boy's seemingly random train of thought suddenly picked up speed in a dangerous direction. "Noo, don't!" she shouted, her eyes bugging out in horror. She started to reach over to cover his mouth but she was too late...

"...a nice lady like you would be with me forever and ever."

Skuld froze in place for a moment before she seemed to contract within herself. "...wish granted..." she calmly said. And then she started to glow.

The entire room slowly brightened to a brilliant white before a tremendous wave of power broke through the roof of his apartment. But the debris didn't fall, instead it was thrown to the side along with the rest of the stuff in the room.

Naruto found himself flattened by his kitchen table as it was knocked flying by the surge of power.

When the light show finally cleared and he crawled out from beneath the rubble, Naruto was greeted with the sight of a small girl lying in the crater in his floor. He was so stunned by current events that he didn't notice that the knick-knacks in his apartment had changed a bit...to look more hi-techish.

It didn't take long for the Third Hokage to notice the disturbance and arrive at the apartment. Together with a small group of nins that were present at the time, they swiftly forced open the door and headed upstairs. When they entered Naruto's home, they were greeted with the sight of a disaster area, a scuffed up boy, and the prone body lying in the center of the room.

They quickly went to the girl.

"Sir, she's unconscious but uninjured," declared the Kunoichi that had reached the girl first.

"What happened here, Naruto?" the Third asked...

"Ah...a..." what was he going to say? A goddess was granting his wish and destroyed his apartment in the process?

The Hokage wasn't paying much attention to the boy babbling "goddess" and "wish" however. Instead, he was looking around at the mess in the room. "Is it what I believe it is?" he asked one of the nins that was picking through the debris.

"It might be, sir," the nin replied, holding out a small pile of blackened fragments.

The Third tut-tutted, before turning to address the still speechless boy. "Naruto, I know that you two invented the concussive notes, but next time you would like to play with such a powerful one, please do it outside. It's a wonder that you two weren't seriously hurt." He looked around once again before sighing, "Come to my office later. It looks like you and Skuld-san will need another place to stay for a while while we clean up this mess."

"H-hai," Naruto stuttered, still too stunned at what had just happened to respond with something more intelligent.

With that, the small group left the apartment at a far more leisurely pace than when they arrived. Strangely, the Third had thought nothing of the new girl. It was almost like she had been a part of Konoha for a long time.

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"Ow! My head!" the girl groaned as she sat up.

Naruto was immediately in front of her face, shouting, "My apartment! What did you do?"

"I granted your w-," the girl started to crossly reply before she reached up to grasp her throat. Then she felt her face, and finally reached down to feel her- "Nooo!" she cried. "What did YOU do?!" she shouted back at the boy.

"I asked you first!" the boy demanded back.

Her eyes were closed and her hands were facing each other. "_With time's eternal song, I call upon the spirits of air and fire with these words...please take form," _she chanted.

The girl paused and opened her eyes.

"Skuld Bomb!" she shouted, and she went through the motion of throwing something.

Naruto stopped flinching and cowering when nothing happened. "Haha, is that the best that you could do?" he taunted.

The girl growled before picking herself up and running out of the apartment.

"Hey..." the boy quietly said as he watched her leave, "Hey! I'm not going to clean this place up myself! Get back here!"

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- Different Phone Booth but still somewhere in Konoha -

"Sorry Skuld-chan."

"But...but...Belldandy kept her powers!"

"That was then. Don't forget, it caused a lot of trouble at the time so the rules had to be changed. Listen, I should not even be talking to you. I need to hang up before someone finds out...but before I do, I should mention that you will get a message later explaining what has happened. You will also receive a pamphlet as well. It's called _So You are Now a Mortal for a Lifetime?_ You should read it, it's quite interesting. Anyway, bye. See you in fifty years."

"Wait!" There was a click, and then a dialtone indicating that the goddess at the other end had hung up.

It started to rain.

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- Somewhere in Konoha -

She sat in the rain, grumbling at the injustice of it all. The pamphlet had probably been lost in transit. She had been temporarily banned from heaven. She couldn't use magic while she was mortal. Worst of all...

"I finally found you!" said a sopping wet blonde boy as he ran up to her.

...Worst of all, this idiot kid's wish made her as flat as a washboard, again! When Urd found out...

With a scream of rage, she pounced on the boy and raised a fist.

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Omake! Ichi!

Kyuubi continued to snore away as a tiny pamphlet titled _So You are Now a Mortal for a Lifetime?_ drifted to a stop atop his head.

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**Chapter Preview!**

"Hey hey," Naruto shouted into a microphone. "How is everyone? I'm sure everyone knows who I am since I'm so popular. But for those who don't, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage and star of this story. And standing next to me is my lovely assistant..."

He turned around. A whirring sound made him look down. "You're not Skuld-chan!"

Before Naruto could blink, the short robot's arms extended and grabbed him. The apelike arms then reared back.

Naruto let out a shout as he was thrown off of the stage.

"Good job Banpei II-san," Skuld said as she stepped out from behind the curtains of the stage and patted the robot on the head. "What! Hey! No, stop Banpei II-san!"

Skuld let out a shriek as she followed after Naruto.

**Next Chapter: Robot Hijin**

**Cheers!**

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**Naruto Uzumaki  
**_The supercool protagonist of, you guessed it, Naruto._  
- Orphaned child. Container for the nine-tailed fox demon.  
- Series Origin: Naruto  
- Age: 10  
- Birthdate: October 10  
- Blood Type: B  
- Known Immediate Family: Kushina Uzumaki (Mother, whereabouts unknown), Minato Namikaze (Father, deceased)

Traits:  
- Loud  
- Rude  
- Stubborn  
- Courageous  
- Unpredictable  
- Loyal  
- Big Heart.  
- Determined.  
- Dreamer.  
- Inspirational  
- Perservere  
- Intelligent (When he's serious)  
- Clever  
- Battle Genius  
- Silly - He can seem brilliant and cool one minute, and then become the village idiot the next. This pops up often when he's in an embarrassing situation or one that needs lots of feeling.  
- Thick.

Notes:  
- Trap Specialist

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**Skuld  
**In this story, Skuld is older and wiser. So why is Naruto needed? To pull her backwards and cheer her up.**  
**- Goddess whose domain is the future  
- Series Origin: Ah! My Goddess (Ah! Megami-sama)  
- Age: ?  
- Birthdate: ?  
- Blood Type: ? (B, probably.)  
- Known Immediate Family: Belldandy (sister), Urd (sister), Kami-sama (father)

Traits:  
- Stubborn  
- Somewhat Vain  
- Proud  
- Hates inefficiency  
- Super Genius (math and technology, not combat)  
- Older (more mature)  
- Courageous  
- Takes the high road  
- Jealous  
- Perceptive  
- Can't think outside of a box (Offset because she knows so much.)

Notes:  
- Skuld is not a pacifist. However, she will refuse to join a pointless conflict.  
- Requires Naruto for childishness.  
- Requires Naruto's presence for inspiration. (Childlike imagination is a wonderful thing)

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Author's Notes:  
There we have it! I think this is the second or third Naruto x Ah! My Goddess xover. I really have no clue where it would go...but I wrote it starting from the scene involving Naruto and the pay phone. The rest just typed itself.

Feel free to comment on what you think couldn't possibly happen, or if you think the characters are speaking weirdly. I'm pretty good at making the square peg fit in the square hole. What? It's a round hole? You're kidding right? I'm pretty certain square pegs don't fit in round holes.

Author's Explanations:  
- If you're wondering why the Third didn't think of Skuld as a stranger...Naruto's wish changed reality. In other words, Skuld is a citizen of Konoha, has been for 10 years now.

-Skuld? She's changed from an adult to a 10 year old. In addition, she is unable to channel magic. However, she retains her knowledge of heaven and her technological prowess is still great.

Acknowledgements:  
Skuld's personality changed slightly. Influence from:  
Naruto & Sakura: A Second Chance  
By: Jho

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	2. Extra 1: Timeline

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Wish to an End Timeline o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**Naruto, Age 10**

**Chapter 1:** February. Makes a wish to have a goddess be with him forever.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

**Chapter 2: **February. Banpei II-san.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

**Chapter 8:** March. Skuld's reasons. (Newest Chapter)  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

_  
_**Chapter 10: **_- Secret -  
_

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**Naruto, Age 11**

**Chapter 3:** October, Naruto's 11th Birthday. A new friend of the feline persuasion.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya

**Chapter 4: **April. Naruto and Skuld meet Hanabi.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya, Hanabi

**Chapter 9: **May. Hanabi-centric tale.  
Characters: Naruto, Hanabi, Hinata

**Chapter 7:** June. Miya-centric tale.  
Characters: Miya

**Chapter 5: **October, near Naruto's 12th Birthday. Travel to another dimension.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Naru-chan

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**Naruto, Age 12**

**Chapter 6:** October, Naruto's 12th Birthday. Departing from the other dimension.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya, Hanabi, Naru-chan

**Chapter 11: **_- Secret -_

**Chapter 12: **_- Secret -_

**Chapter 13: **_- Secret -_


	3. Ch2: Robot Hijinx

_Goddesses are masters of magic, not technology. Do not trust goddess-created machinery to work like you want them to. Especially if a troublemaker has access to this machinery._

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A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ah! My Goddess. I am merely borrowing ideas and characters to create a story that others will enjoy. In no way do I intend to make a profit off of this story.

A/N: I've finally redone this chapter. This is the more serious, yet ridiculously crazy editor's cut. Frankly, I really can't bear to meet the reader's eyes after posting this.

I mainly use the metric system not because it's cool, but because the Japanese use it. So in the interest of making the story closer to canon...  
60 cm is about 2 feet.  
120 cm is about 4 feet.

1 cm is less than an inch

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_In the last chapter, Skuld found herself unable to use magic and living with a stubborn kid named Naruto through a wish gone wrong (for her)._

_When she had started to stay here, Skuld was alone. Or so she thought. It took her some time to grasp how special her roommate could be. Perhaps this was when it started..._

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_Chapter 2: Robot Hijinx_

Characters: Naruto, Skuld

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A door slowly creaked open, some light from the hallway partially illuminated a dark room within. A blond kid dressed in an oversized orange jumpsuit frowned before he took a step in.

The boy paused for a moment before bringing both hands to his mouth to amplify his voice. "I'm home!"

It remained quiet in the dark room.

Naruto started to take a step forward, when there was a clink as something shifted in the room.

He blinked. "Eh?"

Naruto suddenly screeched and leapt back with his hands in a warding position as a large explosion suddenly erupted from the center of the room. For a moment, the clutter occupying the living room was fully visible because of the bright flash that accompanied the bang. Darkness soon reigned once again.

There were several coughs as something made its way to the nearest window and ripped off a thick black cloth from the glass. His living room brightened immediately and Naruto watched as a figure concealed by a large ratty brown blanket his window open and gasped for air.

Now that he could finally see, he took a step into his living room and took a look around.

His floor was cluttered!

Except for a somewhat wide path connecting the front door to the couch on the left, the rooms straight ahead, and the kitchen to the right, taking a step would result in someone rolling on the floor and crying in pain when they cut their toe on something sharp. What used to be empty ramen packages, scrolls, and plastic wrap had been replaced by scrap metal and large odd metal things.

His eyes fell upon the smoking remains in the center of the room. He didn't know what it was.

Bored, his eyes fell back on the gasping figure at the window with the large hole in the screen. That hole was the direct result of a stray brick last year. At least his windows were open at the time. Having a hole in the glass when winter was coming was rarely fun.

The coughing gradually died down as the fresh air worked its magic. Soon all that could be heard were the gasps of heavy breathing.

But the silence ended quickly. Suddenly the figure rounded on him and threw off the blanket. Underneath of the overlarge blanket was his black-haired roommate with strange markings on her face, Skuld-chan. And she didn't look happy.

"Agh! I almost had it!" she screeched before she turned to him with narrowed eyes, "It's all your fault!"

Anger welled up within him. "What?! My fault?! I just got here!"

He shrunk back slightly when she glared at him. "If you hadn't opened the door at a critical moment, this wouldn't have happened!"

He stopped covering his ears to shout back. "I knocked! Loudly!" The door even shook because he was practically punching the door before he pushed it open.

She narrowed her eyes at him before she looked away, "Whatever."

"Why are you so mad anyway?" he said, his mouth echoing his thoughts.

"I'm not." came a clipped reply. He had a feeling that he had just been insulted, but he wasn't sure why.

He hesitated. "If you're sure," he finally said.

"Get lost," the girl rudely replied as she sat down at the coffee table and glared at the smoking object.

Instead of heading for his room, he quickly turned right and headed into the kitchen. Let Skuld-chan think that he was fixing himself a snack.

He cautiously peered around the corner and watched as Skuld-chan slowly reached for a screwdriver and started poking at the device again.

After several pokes, he quickly hid as another explosion erupted from the dead device.

He heard her cough several times before there was the sound of a screwdriver being thrown at the ground. He quickly looked around the corner again.

"Agh!" She was mad again.

His eyes immediately widened when he saw her pick up the piece of junk and raise it over her head.

And then the blood left his face as he heard what she said next. "I know you're somewhere nearby watching me! When I say get lost, I mean it!"

His room wasn't far! Okay, one, two...nevermind, RUN!

Turning around, he saw something flying toward him just as he slammed his bedroom door shut. There was a thud and the door shook slightly. Another angry scream filled the apartment as he shoved the button on the knob in with his thumb and locked it.

There were several more crashes on the other side before it was silent.

He gave a sigh before he turned around and leaned against the door. He slowly slid down the coarse wood as his breathing calmed.

Skuld-chan was becoming more and more unstable each day. At first, she had just ignored him. Now she became angry everytime she saw him. What happened to that nice lady from a week ago? Why did she have to shrink and stop being nice?

He looked out the window. It was nice and sunny out. Soon fall would turn to winter and days like these would become rare.

Putting his hands behind his head, he moved forward slightly so that he could lay down and gaze up at the ceiling.

-o-o-o-o-o-

_Iruka stood in front of the classroom holding a clipboard._

_"__Skuld?" _

_There was no reply. _

_"__Has anyone seen Skuld?"_

_"__I don't think she's here today, Iruka-sensei." Sakura announced. There were snickers in the background as someone whispered, "teacher's pet."_

_"__Again? Very well then." Iruka made a quick mark on his clipboard before he looked up again. "Toyama Kazuha."_

_"__Here sensei!"_

-o-o-o-o-o-

He sat up, his eyes wide.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Skuld-chan outside before. Maybe she was going crazy from being cooped up inside all day! Well, he was going to take her outside if it was the last thing he did. It's a promise!

-o-o-o-o-o-

A door creaked open.

"Skuld-chan! Let's go outside!" Naruto shouted determinedly.

He flinched when there was another loud explosion right after he said this. The girl in the center of the room coughed a few more times before she stood up and cried loudly at the ceiling. She turned to him, an angry look on her soot covered face.

Naruto backed away as she approached before his resolve firmed and he flexed his hand.

"I told you not to call m-," Skuld started to shout before she nearly fell over. "Hey! What are you doing! Let me go!" the black-haired girl cried as Naruto dashed ahead with her hand firmly in his grip.

"We're going outside Skuld-chan!" Naruto said from over his shoulder as he paused for a moment to jerk the door open. He quickly charged through, and then shot backwards like a rubber band when something stopped him from moving forward. Standing up, he turned to see what the problem was.

Skuld was holding onto the doorframe with her free hand.

"Let go brat!" She said with a glare.

Instead of complying, Naruto brought his other hand to help the first one. "You're going...whether," he braced his feet on the floor as he leaned back with all of his weight.

"...you like it..." he pulled as hard as he could.

"Eurrrrrrrgh" the girl growled as she refused to let go of the doorframe.

He leaned forward slightly as he relaxed a little. "...or..."

Skuld took advantage of the brief lull to look up and glare frostily at the boy. "let go," she coldly ordered.

Instead of complying, Naruto took the next moment to shout "...NOT!" as he gave a hard tug that ripped her from the doorframe. The two were unable to stop as their uncontrolled momentum sent them stumbling into the hallway. That was how Naruto found himself flattened against the wall as his roommate bodily rammed him.

Picking herself up, Skuld was about to stomp back into the apartment when she suddenly looked down at the foreign hand holding her own.

Buoyed by his first victory, Naruto enthusiastically dashed for the stairs. Caught unprepared, the exiled goddess was dragged off-balance.

That was how she found herself hopping wildly on one foot as the boy dragged her to who knows where.

**Thump thump thump thump thump...**

Naruto quickly made his way down the steps to the second floor. His roommate was crying in fear as her off-balanced hopping made the downward trip frightening and dangerous.

"Almost there!" he shouted happily as he neared the bottom of the steps and prepared to turn the corner and start down the final set of stairs.

The blond boy suddenly found his feet flying out from under him once again as something suddenly pulled back on his arm. The girl behind him gave a short cry as he fell hard on his rear. He gave a short shout as well when a spike of pain shot up his back.

Turning painfully, he saw Skuld gripping the railing tightly with her other hand. Her eyes were tightly shut, and tears were starting to form on the corners.

Naruto realized that he was hurting her! He almost let go. Almost. But then the thought of her thanking him and being nice again once she had a walk outside drove him to harden his heart and push on.

"Let go Skuld-chan!" he shouted as he painfully pushed himself up before he put his free hand on his other hand to strengthen his hold. Once again he played tug-of-war with her arm as the rope.

"You let go you imbecile!" Skuld agonizingly shouted as she struggled to hold onto the rail.

"You're going outside! Believe it!" he shouted in return as he pulled even harder.

"No I won't!" she bit out as tears formed in her eyes.

"Yes you...WILL." With a sudden burst of strength, he gave a really hard tug. Naruto stumbled and nearly lost his grip when Skuld's grip on the railing slipped slightly. However, the exiled goddess stubbornly continued to hold on.

Naruto knew that it going to be a long time before Skuld let go, and he was impatient to be outside.

"Fine!" he shouted as angrily threw her arm down.

Skuld cast a brief smirk at him, before she turned to head back up to the third floor. Naruto gnashed his teeth angrily when he saw her smug look.

Just as her foot touched the next step, Naruto leaped forward and grabbed a handful of the back of her shirt.

"I won't break my promise!" he shouted as he charged for the wall.

His roommate only had time to gasp, "huh?" before she felt something try to pull her right off the staircase. She barely managed to tighten her grip in time to prevent herself from flying off the stairs and landing on the floor with the back of her head. But soon, only the tips of her fingers were all that were holding her in place.

With a frenzied cry, Naruto pulled one more time with all of his strength. There was a tearing sound and the two suddenly went flying. Naruto soon found himself momentarily planting a pair of fat lips against the wall when his roommate crashed into him again. They both fell to the ground.

Skuld panted heavily as she struggled to stand. However, she found a hand grasping her arm once again. She looked up.

Naruto was rubbing his mouth with the back of his arm while panting heavily. He swayed unsteadily on his feet, but it looked like he was ready to continue his mad dash outside.

Skuld wasn't going to let him grab her again though. "Alright!" she shouted as she slapped the offending appendage off.

Naruto looked curiously at her as he reached forward to take her arm again.

"Stop," the black-haired girl ordered as she pulled her arm out of the way. She turned and glared at the wall. "Go outside, I'll follow." she angrily said.

"How do I know that you're not going to run off when I turn around?" Naruto demanded as he crouched down so that their heads were about level.

She turned to glare at him. "I promised."

And just like that, Naruto was on his feet and laughing as he made his way to the stairs leading to the first floor. He paused and turned. "Skuld-chan promised!" He loudly reminded her.

Skuld grumbled as she shakily stood. Recalling the ripping sound, she felt around until she found the frayed fabric that indicated a rip. After feeling around for a moment, she decided that it was large, but not enough to be indecent. She slowly moved after him.

Naruto grinned before he made his way to the bottom of the steps where he turned around again with a curious look.

Silently fuming, Skuld slowly made her way down the steps.

The process repeated itself until they left the large steel door leading outside.

Naruto stood on the deserted streets and whirled around happily. Gray buildings surrounded them, a depressing contrast to the optimistic sky.

"See? Isn't this great?" He didn't care though as he swung his arms around a few times before turning to his roommate.

Skuld was calmly heading back in. She had promised to follow him outside, and now that that was done, she didn't have to stick around anymore. Hopefully he'd stay outside for-

"Let me go!" She suddenly shouted.

"Let's go see the old man!" Naruto said with a large strained smile as he pulled her toward the Hokage's tower.

-o-o-o-o-o-

After extracting another promise from his roommate, the two made their way towards the Hokage's tower. Along the way, they had to cross a crowded marketplace and a well-used park.

Skuld shivered slightly. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end for some reason as they made their way through the crowded marketplace.

She angrily glared back. It hadn't taken her long to realize that the reason for her discomfort was because of the crowd glaring at them. However, aside from one or two pairs of eyes turning away, the rest of the crowd continued to look at them with a less-than-friendly expression. She finally turned away and hunched over. 'Despicable ninjas,' she irritatedly thought. (2)

Naruto suddenly stopped, causing the raven haired girl to look up. In front of them was the grand structure that held the Third's home and office. She quickly looked at it from an engineer's point of view. The Hokage Tower wasn't so much a tower per se. While it was indeed taller than the other buildings in Konohagakure, it was far wider than it was tall, making it more difficult for something to topple it over or land a critical hit should invaders reach the heart of Konoha and begin sieging the building. In short, it wasn't just a majestic building, it was a fortress.

She reluctantly followed the blond boy into the building and up the stairs. They soon arrived at the third floor, the location of the Hokage's office. A reasonably well-protected room because it wasn't positioned on the topmost fifth floor where the elite nins would sneak in, and it wasn't near the ground floor where an invading army was most likely to break through.

"We came to see the old man!" Naruto shouted to the lady behind the desk.

"I'm afraid he's a bit busy right now," the receptionist replied as she coolly pointed a nail file at the boy before she used it to shape her long fingernails a little.

"I wasn't aware that I had something to do at the moment. Has the next stack of paperwork arrived already?" the Third asked as he appeared in the doorway.

"Hokage-sama!" the receptionist shouted as she sat up and fumbled with her nail file.

The Third ignored her as he turned his head to look at the two children. "Naruto-san, Skuld-san. How are you two today?"

"Old man!" Naruto greeted cheerfully before he turned and made a funny face at the receptionist. A low growl immediately emanated from her throat.

Skuld was of a different mind when she saw the Third. She looked away, her eyes smoldering angrily.

Sarutobi appeared not to notice. "Well, I shouldn't keep you two waiting. Come in, come in. Ayane-san, please bring some cookies for the children will you?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," The receptionist said through gritted teeth as she stood up. It wasn't hard to see that she would rather take a vial of poison than comply with the Third's last suggestion.

Naruto eagerly followed behind the old man, however...

...the Third paused to look back. "Skuld-san? Are you feeling okay?" He asked when Skuld made no effort to follow.

The girl in question was staring intently at the plain-looking carvings in a nearby wall as a stormcloud darkened her face.

"Skuld-chan?" came a small curious voice from the boy standing beside the old fool.

Knowing that the two weren't going to wait much longer for a reply before they decided to pull her into the ultimate evil's room, Skuld took a deep breath before she forced a shaky smile onto her face. She turned to them. "I need some fresh air. It's too stuffy in here."

The Third nodded agreeably. "Yes yes, I know what you mean. I wish we could have more windows in here, but some comfort must be sacrificed for safety. Thank you for visiting an old man, Skuld-san. Stop by anytime to see me. Ayane-san will let you know when I am free."

"Yes...Hokage-sama," Skuld said as she felt her shaky smile start to become a scowl. She quickly turned and robotically headed down the stairs, past a dour secretary who was bringing up cookies.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As she wandered around, Skuld eventually found herself entering the main marketplace of Konoha. She didn't stop to wonder why the crowd wasn't glaring anymore because something had caught her eye.

She drooled at the small ice cream shop that sat on the outskirts of the marketplace. A man stood behind the counter, wiping off the glass with an old rag.

Her vision suddenly went black as she closed her eyes and fought with the temptation. _'Ninja ice cream was probably as vile as the ninjas themselves,'_ she reasoned. Of course she didn't want to dirty her tastebuds with the vile stuff. She didn't want any. Yes! She didn't want any ice cream!

She shook her head a few times to clear it before the world faded into view as her eyes opened. Her eyes widened when the world came into focus and a cone with a pink top came into focus. Her eyes slowly traced the hand, holding the ice cream, up the arm before she leapt back in fright.

The man that had been standing behind the counter was now standing right in front of her. "Here, try this, little Miss," the man said with a cheerful smile as he moved the luscious-looking cone forward a little.

And she couldn't fight it anymore! With an ungraceful swipe, Skuld had the ice cream cone in her hands and her tongue out to take an experimental lick. As the taste of creamy strawberries rippled up her tongue, her first thought was, _'not bad for ice cream made by ninjas._'

After a few more licks, she hastily revised her thoughts to _'this is good.'_

Maybe ninjas weren't so bad after all. She turned to thank the vendor, but he wasn't there anymore. Instead, he was standing behind the counter once again. He gave her a cheerful wave. "Come back soon!" he shouted before he took out the old cloth and started to wipe down the counter.

When she saw his friendly look, Skuld suddenly recalled something. She quickly glanced around, but she didn't find what she was looking for.

Maybe she was standing in the wrong spot.

With that thought in mind, Skuld slowly made her way to the center of the marketplace, the cone in her hand all but forgotten.

Eventually, she stopped searching for any unfriendly faces directed at her and just observed the crowd as it went about its daily business. She watched as they shoved each other out of the way, shouted angrily at each other, and generally treating each other with blatant disrespect. It was so awful, but it was to be expected from a village of ninjas.

The feeling of something cold dripping onto her hand made her look down. The strawberry ice cream was beginning to melt. Skuld quickly took another lick of her cone, only to gag. She grimaced sadly at the cone in her hand. Because of the ninjas surrounding her and their rude nature a sour taste had entered her mouth which carried over to the ice cream.

"Skuld-chan!" someone shouted, causing her to look up. Naruto suddenly broke out of the crowd and tagged her. "Found you!"

The hairs suddenly prickled on the back of her neck. Skuld didn't have to look to know that the crowd was glaring again.

But this time, she knew that the glares and cold looks weren't directed at her.

"Let's head home Skuld-chan," the blond boy said happily, seemingly unaware of the glares.

She silently nodded in agreement.

On the way back, Skuld glanced at her roommate from time to time.

Naruto finally noticed. "What is it Skuld-chan?"

"What happened?" she gruffly asked, indicating his roughed up appearance. Years of practice had allowed her to conceal her worry rather well.

Naruto instantly had a hand behind his head as he laughed. "Ha ha ha, I tripped."

Of course she didn't believe him. And it bothered her how there was a relation between the glaring and his current appearance.

...she immediately frowned as she angrily quelched her pitying thoughts. She didn't like him!

How could she help him if she just...didn't like him?

-o-o-o-o-o-

That night, Skuld sat in the bathtub as she stared quietly at the calm water.

"Skuld?" Her eyes widened as she turned to the fogged mirror. A head of brown hair popped right out and looked around.

"Belldandy!" she shouted happily, catching her sister's attention. A confused look came over her face. "How come you're here?"

Her older sister blinked once before she smiled and pulled herself out. "Father gave me permission to visit."

"Really?" Skuld asked excitedly. Father was careful with his exceptions. Belldandy must have had something important to say! Maybe...

"Does that mean that the wish has been canceled?" she excitedly asked.

A thoughtful look appeared on her older sister's face as the goddess of the present looked upwards for a moment. Her cheerful face suddenly disappeared as a serious look replaced it. "I'm afraid you have to remain here until the wish is fulfilled."

Skuld struck the water with her fist before she glared angrily at it.

Belldandy smiled again. "It's not all bad, Skuld. Naruto is a good child," Her sister cheerfully said as she walked over and carefully sat down on the edge of the bathtub.

"He's a ninja!" Skuld angrily retorted.

Belldandy had a serious look on her face as she reached forward and took her younger sister's hand. "While they have forsaken their kind, ninjas are humans too."

A stormcloud appeared on her face. "So?" Skuld heatedly retorted as she pulled her hand away and turned to face the wall.

Belldandy remained silent, but Skuld knew that her older sister was frowning disappointedly at her. But her sister was wrong this time! Every ninja was the same!

The two didn't say a word for some time. Skuld finally lost some of her steam. "Bell?" she quietly asked as she turned to look at her sister.

Curious eyes looked back at her.

"Why does everyone glare at him?"

A shadow passed over her older sister's face taking Skuld by surprise.

"Naruto is...special," Belldandy finally said before she hesitated. "He contains a guardian within him." she finally added.

"A guardian? Isn't that good?" she asked.

Belldandy pursed her lips before she looked down into the water. "Father has forbidden me from saying more. You have to find this out yourself younger sister. Please. Be careful with who you ask." she quietly said with a slight lilt of pleading in her voice.

Her eyes widened at her normally optimistic sister's caution. "What?"

"I cannot say more, I'm sorry." Belldandy quietly said as she looked away. Skuld knew that her sister was doing this to avoid her eyes.

Skuld watched her sister quickly stand up and drift to the mirror. But before her older sister touched the mirror, she hesitated before turning around and calling out, "Skuld."

Skuld blinked curiously.

"Even if he is a ninja. He is also a child. No child should suffer rejection like that," Belldandy whispered, a serious look on her face. The look soon disappeared as a kind smile grew. "Take care sister, I'll see you soon." She happily said. And just like that, she was gone.

Skuld wordlessly bobbed her hand in the water as she thought about what her sister had said.

Why did Belldandy want her to protect a ninja?

She looked up as a spark of life seemed to enter her eyes. Did it matter? She could build something! Something that could protect the child in her place. She felt almost giddy as a design leapt to the forefront of her mind. A guardian robot that she had built hundreds of years ago, at a time when life was far more carefree.

-o-o-o-o-o-

(Three Days Later)

"There! Done!" she happily shouted. Blowing out a deep breath and wiping off her forehead with the hand holding a large wrench, she shut the hatch and hesitated before pushing a large button on its back. The two-foot robot in front of her whirred to life. After the upper half of the body spun around several times, it turned to the shortened goddess.

"Mistress Skuld, what are your orders?" A robotic voice from its speaker grill tinnied

She hugged it tearfully. Modeled after Banpei-kun, who she immediately promised to rebuild once she found his body, Banpei II-san was a challenge that she joyfully embraced. It wasn't easy given her lack of magic and the low-grade parts that she had on hand, but...

She suddenly shrieked and leapt out of the way of a lost training kunai. Through unbelievable means, it lodged itself right into the robot's side.

"Skuld-chan! I'm sor-" Naruto shouted as he ran up.

"You idiot! How many times have I told you-huh?"

Skuld was surprised when she suddenly found herself high in the air. Looking over, she saw Naruto in the same predicament. He was shouting and flailing wildly as he struggled to break free. The long arm holding the blond up belonged to...she glanced backwards...a robot half their height.

Before Skuld could say anything, she heard it. At first it was silent, even a cat sneaking around was louder, but soon the fast-paced strains of battle music thumped loudly from the small robot's loudspeakers. The two were thrown aside.

Skuld landed in a bunch of parts while Naruto bounced off of the floor.

The robot's torso took a moment to make a complete revolution so that it could throw a pair of items at the two children. A large paper fan, half as long as she was tall, landed on Skuld. For Naruto, Skuld's debugging hammer, a long thin stick with a small weight on one end, bounced a few times before it came to a rest right next to him.

They barely had time to pick up the weapons before the robot charged.

And promptly turned an old couch into shreds of cloth, fuzz, and wood planks.

"My couch!" Naruto cried in horror. Nevermind that he wanted to replace it months ago, the robot had ripped apart an important fixture of his home.

"..." Skuld had nothing to say as she mentally compared the weight of her creation with the weight of the couch. A very big difference...

...something was wrong here...

A bang pulled them from their thoughts. They turned in time to see the robot with a stack of papers in its hands. Skuld's blueprints for another invention. She hadn't gotten around to making the static electricity power generator yet...

...and it looks like she probably never will.

Skuld gaped at the bits of paper floating down from the ceiling for a long moment before she glared angrily at her creation. "Stop!" she ordered the rogue robot.

The next thing to be destroyed was a metal frame that Skuld had been working on for half a week now. Her creation shredded it apart in less than five seconds at the same time the battle music hit an interesting melody.

"Stop Banpei II-san!" she ordered again as she ran up and swung.

**Thwack**

The robot shook from her hit. Skuld breathed a sigh of relief when it stopped moving and the music disappeared. Her relief was short lived.

There was a click, and then the ramping up that preluded a boss song began.

The menacing red eyes slowly turned to her. Before Skuld knew it, she was sent tumbling into the remains of the couch as the small robot ran to the coffee table. She let out a cry when something jabbed her painfully in the back.

After flailing for a bit, she finally managed to get off of the pointy thing and sit up. She rubbed her back soothingly before a **thwack** caught her attention.

Turning to look, she saw her robot strike the coffee table again with a paper fan made from old newspapers. Then it turned to her. Before she could react, it was in front of her and striking her solidly on the side of her face.

Skuld had a hand to her cheek as she gaped open-mouthed at the robot. A grim look soon appeared as she stood up and swung her fan like a golf club. It struck the robot in the chest, causing it to jar in place as the loud music stopped once again.

The robot reared back, as if it were taking a deep breath.

And then it suddenly shot forward with the fan high above its head and the best part of the boss music cheering it on.

It swung, causing Skuld immediately winced as the robot struck her wrist. She quickly tightened her grip on the handle before she counterattacked, she managed to land a glancing blow on the robot's smooth face.

From there, the two took turns whacking each other with paper fans. Several blows were exchanged and soon Skuld's right arm was an angry red while the robot looked slightly scuffed but almost as pristine as when it had just been built.

Skuld screamed angrily as she swung downward with all her might and struck the robot once again on the head.

Banpei II-san easily shrugged off the blow as it swung back.

Skuld pulled her fan hand back in time, but she had to yelp anyway as the offending fan struck her hip. There was a tearing sound as the abused newspaper fan finally ripped in half, leaving the robot to stare at the remains of the hilt. The boss music ground to a halt as the slow melody of a sad song of defeat replaced it.

Skuld had a savage smirk on her face as the robot kneeled before her and held out both hands, the remains of the hilt resting upon its palms.

And then, like a beacon in the darkness, a large paper fan flew over her head and landed in front of the robot. She saw her Banpei II-san glance at the fan as she turned to roar at the one who had just sent the robot a new weapon.

The brat was gleefully grinning at her as he gave her a thumbs up.

Before she could rip her unwanted roommate a new one, she stumbled as Banpei II-san struck her in the back of her shin with a stiff new paper fan. The sad song ended as a tune for the final boss ramped up.

She immediately swung downwards and landed a glancing blow on the robot's arm and the two began trading shots once again. As the tempo of the song increased, so too were the speeds of their swings. Soon, it almost looked like they were striking their opponent twice with each swing...

...they were.

Skuld winced as she felt a strike on her elbow immediately following a strike to her side. She retaliated with a vicious triple combo to the robot's head before she tried to block her creation's next attack.

She seemed to be winning again, Banpei II-san's weapon was fraying around the edges again.

And then another fan landed into the middle of their battlefield.

"Naruto!" she screeched angrily before she raised her fan to block a wild blow. She had no time to exact divine justice on the blond idiot because her creation was now holding the second fan in its other hand.

Skuld quickly shrunk back when a mad grin seemed to appear on her robot's face. She didn't know how it was possible, Banpei II-san didn't have a mouth to grin with.

The music tempo dramatically quickened as her crazy invention charged forward. She was soon cowering within the remains of the sofa as the robot dual wielded the paper fans with terrifying efficiency.

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto shouted.

"Help!" the girl screamed, her hands covering the back of her head as the robot swung again and again and again.

**Punt! **

The near-continous attacks and the loud music suddenly came to a stop and a loud cheer took their place.

Curious, Skuld opened her eyes and raised her head. She saw her latest creation lying on its back, both fans still in its grip. Naruto stood protectively in front of her, his foot still up in the air and his arms upraised in a victory pose.

The boy stopped gloating when he saw the robot sit up and shake its head. It turned to look at them, its red eyes glowing menacingly.

He stared at the hammer in his hand for a moment before he tossed it aside. Ripping the paper fan from Skuld's hand, he leapt forward, and swung.

**Thwack!**

Banpei II-san shook slightly from the moderately light blow to its head. However, instead of playing a new song, the diminutive iron mecha remained silent as it took a swing and struck the blond boy in the arm with the right fan.

Naruto winced before he determinedly brought the fan up to strike again. Only to drop his hands immediately to cover his ribs when the robot exploited the momentary opening to strike his unprotected side with the fan in its other hand.

He fell over when the robot used its first fan to strike him on the knee.

Naruto was now lying helpless on the ground as Skuld's creation menacingly raised its weapons high into the air.

First there was a ping as sunlight glinted off of its metal exterior.

Then a rock n' roll love song began to play as the robot swung down with one fan. Once that hit, the other fan came down as the first one rose back to its starting position. It repeated this sequence several times before it had a rhythm going. Soon it was mercilessly whaling on the boy as it struck to the beat of the drummer in the background song.

"Owie! It hurts!" Naruto cried as he soon started resembling a hot tomato.

"What did you expect?!" Skuld shouted back from her crouched position, hands still protectively covering the back of her head. It hurt too much to move.

Banpei II-san's efforts soon had Naruto sizzling and looking worse and worse by the moment. Right before Naruto reached extra crispy, the song ended and the small robot finally stopped swinging. After a brief analysis, it decided that it had appropriately neutralized its target and it looked around for a new one. It suddenly froze for a second before it threw the smoking fans aside and rushed away with disco playing in the background.

As the two folded pieces of paper floated gently to the ground, there was a crash as the robot made a new doorway into the kitchen. It promptly ground the kitchen table into kindling.

After several more crashes and the near constant shattering of dishes, the robot reentered the living room and peered around with its beady red eyes. It froze once again when it found its next target. A variant of the imperial march ominously hummed in the background.

At this time, Skuld had finally managed to ignore enough of the pain so that one of her hands was now resting on her forehead. However, it still hurt too much, to move her head, so she had to use the corner of her eye to see what her creation wanted to destroy now. Her eyes widened.

"Banpei II-san! Stop!!" Skuld shouted in terror. Instead of listening, the robot charged for the one device in the room that held an unstable power source.

"Stop!" Skuld screamed again. If the robot ripped apart the pickle juice and apple cider reactor, the brief exposure to air would cause it to explode. The next day, all that would remain of Konoha was a crater...and memories of darker times.

Well, the dimunitive robot finally did stop. But not because it heard her. Instead, it was standing in front of the device and reaching forward.

In moments, it would all be over.

"Nooo!!" Skuld cried as she ignored the burning pain and hurried to cover her head again. She hadn't wanted to use such a volatile combination, but she had needed a primary generator because she sometimes needed something stronger than a standard power socket

**Crunch! Crash! Bang! Boom!**

...

It was silent. Even the terribly loud music had stopped for more than a few seconds.

Skuld looked up, half-expecting to find herself in Asgard and half-wondering why her body still hurt.

Her eyes widened. Instead of seeing a Valkyrie holding a notice saying that Kami-sama would like to see her immediately, she saw wisps of smoke wafting off of her blond-haired tomato-colored roommate as he stood in front of the smoking remains of Banpei II-san.

"Heh, the hero always comes at the last minute," the boy said as he turned to her with a giant fox grin. He moved slightly so that he could shakily lean on the handle of her debugging hammer.

Skuld didn't care for his coolness, she was too busy gaping at the shattered remains of her small robot. Even if it caused problems until the end, she had really enjoyed building this robot. It brought back memories of happier times. To see it like this was...too...

"Naruto...you...you..." she sputtered, unable to form the words.

The grin dropped of his face as a confused look took over. "Skuld-chan?"

"I-I...I really really hate you!" she shrieked as she shut her eyes, covered her ears, and ran to her room. There was a tremendous slamming sound as she threw her door closed behind her.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto stared quietly at the remains while Skuld-chan's last words echoed through his mind. She was mad at him for destroying her robot. So all he had to do was fix it and everything would be fine, right?

But until this day, Naruto had only watched as Skuld-chan worked. Never before had he tried to help. The larger than normal explosions that happened nearly everytime she worked scared him a lot. Skuld-chan knew what she was doing so she wasn't hurt badly whenever she was caught in one. He had no illusions about his own survivability though.

But...

He firmed his resolve, stepped forward, and reached for a wrench. If only to make Skuld not mad at him anymore, he would gladly risk his life.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The next day, when a calmer, but uneasy, Skuld came out to apologize to Naruto, she stopped searching to stare at a beat-up Banpei II-san puffing away merrily as it cleaned their apartment.

Naruto, she finally found at their kitchen table sleeping away the morning. She immediately noticed his injuries. Several parts of his hair were blackened and smoking slightly. He seemed to be missing an eyebrow. Or maybe it was the heavy soot on his face hiding it from view. He had a large wrench in his hand, and he held it in such a way that most of his fingers were in plain sight. There were band-aids on each finger. Skuld looked up at his face again, there was an extra large piece of gauze on one cheek.

She stepped back slightly to get a wider view. Now she had a glimpse of something that looked like omelettes sitting in front of him. Instead of lying facedown in the food, his whiskered cheek was resting heavily against the large wrench. She was pretty sure his face would look funny later.

She leaned back even more to peer around the entrance to the kitchen. She saw a banged-up but functional robot in the living room again.

Moments later, she turned back to gaze at the brat once again. There was a confused look on her face. This boy...

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Omake! Ichi!

"Ne ne, Skuld. I think Banpei-tousan is angry with us today..." Naruto remarked as the two soaking wet kids were hung to dry by a midget robot with menacing red eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's Banpei II-san," Skuld shouted as she struggled to free herself from the clothesline and exact divine retribution on her blond roommate for getting them into another fine mess. Nevermind that it was in her room when it went berserk. Or that it was her robot. Or an odd bug in the code that she couldn't find made the robot act strangely from time to time. Nope, this was all Naruto's fault.

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**Chapter Preview!**

"Mr. Naruto! Is it my turn yet?" the pink-haired girl asked as she jumped out onto the stage.

"Who are you?"

∗Sniff∗ "Uguuu...Mr. Naruto forgot who Miya was already..."

"Hey hey, I was just kidding." Naruto laughed nervously.

"Waaah!"

"Miya-chan! Wait!"

**Next Chapter: **_**My New Friend, the Housecat**_

**See you then!**

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**Skuld's Inventions:  
**Naruto: "That was such an awesome fight! Let's do it again Skuld-chan!"  
_Sign on Door:_ _Mystery Character! Please insert 2 credits to unlock.  
_

__

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_Banpei II-san_

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While it would appear otherwise, Banpei II-san is not a demolition robot.  
- Chivalrous to a degree. It won't strike unarmed opponents, but if you're holding a weapon you're fair game.  
- 60 cm (about 2 feet)  
- Modified from Banpei-kun design. Instead of protecting buildings, Banpei II-san was designed to protect a person.  
- Has a loudspeaker and a cd player that can hold 5 cds at a time. I'm not sure if it had the FF7 soundtrack as one of them, but it would be funny wouldn't it?  
- After Naruto worked with it, Banpei II-san had a problem in its code that Skuld couldn't find. The end result is that the robot's primary function is to clean, and in rare cases it goes on a rampage. The two still haven't figured out the trigger yet.

**Naruto's Inventions:  
**Skuld: "What inventions? He's a dumb useless mortal."  
_Sign on Door:_ _ 2 credits or no tuna._

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A/N: The ratings are in, senseless violence with odd weapons is a seller!

A/N: Toyama Kazuha? Detective Conan. Yes I'm perfectly aware that I selected someone to fail the genin exam. No, I don't hate her. My justification is that she's not cut out to the difficult life of a nin.

A/N: Skuld has a stereotype. In a ninja village, everyone inside is a ninja. In other words, even the civilians are ninjas.

Cheers goes to **HolyKnight5** for pointing out that I'm probably the second to create a Skuld / Naruto fanfic on March 15. More than half a month ago! **Divine** by **Kyubi88** came before me. I can't say I enjoyed it, but it is well done. You also get a level of Naruto and OMG detail that you won't find in mine.

-o-o-o-o-o-


	4. Ch3: My New Friend, the Housecat

_It can only end in tears when you force a goddess to live with a demon. Or can it?_

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ah! My Goddess, or All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. I am merely borrowing ideas and characters to create a story that others will enjoy. In no way do I intend to make a profit off of this story.

A/N: I realized early on that this odd crossover was going to be hard to write a story about. I have ideas, but no binding plot. So I decided to write several loosely related but fairly standalone short stories about this wonderful crossover.

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_It has been a few months since Skuld had started living under the same roof as Naruto as chronicled in Chapters 1 and 2._

_Today is October 9th, Naruto's 11th birthday is coming up. Unfortunately, because of Skuld, he had forgotten to take this year's test. But we all know he wouldn't have passed._

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_Chapter 3: My New Friend, the Housecat_

Characters: Skuld, Naruto

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A loud ring filled the air.

Skuld's hand immediately shot out...

∗Slap∗

She heard the alarm clock thud against something before she sighed and settled deeper into her pillow to sleep some more. It momentarily occurred to her that she had set her alarm clock for a reason, but the reason why eluded her.

Too tired to care, she rubbed her cheek against the soft pillow and closed her eyes.

A second later, another loud ring filled the air.

Skuld quickly buried her head. Oh yeah. She had deliberately made her alarm clock rather durable. Even if she threw it out the window like she wanted to do now, it would still sound in a happy and healthy way.

The ringing continued for some time before it finally stopped.

Skuld was about to settle down and relax when...

∼RING∼ the annoying chimes started up again. Gritting her teeth, she reluctantly pulled the pillow off of her head.

Throwing her blankets off and rolling out of her warm bed, she padded over to the innocent looking timepiece and irritably picked it up. She blearily stared at the dimly glowing display.

"...It's off." she finally muttered. The ringing stopped.

Several moments passed before ringing filled the air once again.

Skuld slowly began to realize what the source of the noise really was.

"Naruto...get the phone." she shouted before she dropped the clock and turned to the bed. Reaching down to pull up the covers, she was about to crawl back in when the phone shrieked once again.

"Naruto..." she wearily called out again.

"..." Still no answering call. _Where was he? Why wasn't he shouting 'I got it'?_

Her sleep-fogged mind slowly drew a conclusion._ 'Maybe he was in class already.'_

The phone rang again.

Skuld's temper started to boil. She wanted - to - sleep!

_...Agh!_ Why did they have a phone in the first place anyway?! It's not like anyone knew their number!"

It was her sleepy state that kept her from listing out just who knew their number: Naruto, the Hokage, and some crazy stalker that had spotted her in town the other day. It was a small list, with two of them being highly suspicious. She would have had a 50'⁄‚ chance of guessing the culprit. But she was sleepy...and not thinking clearly.

Seconds passed before the phone announced its presence once again. Whoever was calling was persistent.

Skuld finally had enough. Glaring angrily down at her bed, she released her hold on her blanket and turned to her bedroom door. Ignoring the debris littering her floor, she stomped over and threw it open.

Soon afterwards, she was in the living room and grabbing the offending object just as it was about to cry again.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, "Moshi Moshi?" she said rather civilly into the receiver.

It was quiet on the other end.

"Who's calling?" she asked. When there was no response, she pulled the phone from her ear and prepared to slam it down on its hook.

"Ah! Is your refrigerator running?" a voice suddenly tinnied from the speaker.

_That voice sounds very familiar. _Skuld hurriedly put the phone back to her ear. "What?" she demanded irritably.

She heard giggling in the background. And then she suddenly knew.

"What do you want Naruto?"

"I'm not Naruto!" the voice quickly said. "And is your refrigerator running?"

Her roommate's simplicity really aggravated her sometimes. "Naruto..."

He must have realized that he had given himself away, because his tone changed a little. It sounded a little smug. "Ah, Skuld, it's two in the afternoon."

Skuld paused. Had she heard correctly? "What?"

"It's two in the afternoon."

Grabbing the loop of wire that connected the handset to the phone, Skuld pulled on it a few times to untangle it so that she could peek into the kitchen without pulling the phone off of the table.

She stared at the glowing numbers on the microwave. "2:03".

_Why was he telling her the time?_

When she reentered the living room and glanced at the television set, it came to her in a flash. The TV show that she had really wanted to watch had just ended.

She couldn't get angry. Not yet. Maybe he had a reason. "Naruto, you had better have a good reason for sneaking into my room and disabling my alarm clock this morning"

"Hahaha, was there a TV show that you just missed?"

"Yes actually, there was," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"That's too bad," there was no trace of guilt or remorse whatsoever in his voice.

"..."

"This is for yesterday, Skuld-chan," Naruto continued in a righteous tone of voice.

"..." Skuld remained silent.

"Skuld-chan?" There was a slight tone of worry in Naruto's voice.

Skuld blinked several times as she returned to the real world. "Naruto. Could you come home, I have something to ask you," she asked sweetly, mentally adding 'I think' and stretching her nearly nonexistent ability to lie to the limit.

"Just tell me over the phone."

"No no, it's really private."

"But it's not important! Otherwise you'd tell me now." Naruto insisted.

"...It's..." Skuld floundered. She couldn't lie!

"Hah, thought not!" she heard him gloat. "Anyway, I'll see you in a bit."

"Wait Na-"

The sound of the phone hanging up on the other end had Skuld slamming the phone receiver back down into its cradle. She let out an angry sigh. Naruto prank had completely ruined her schedule! Now what could she do?

She was about to return to her room when a soft whirring caught her attention. She turned around.

A tape suddenly popped out from the old video recorder that rested under their ancient TV.

Skuld blinked. She walked over with a curious expression on her face and pulled out the tape. After examining it for a moment, a small smile appeared.

_That was thoughtful of him._

She pushed it back into the slot. The VCR let out a groan as it ate the object. Hitting the rewind button, Skuld stood up and headed for the kitchen with a contemplative expression on her face.

It wasn't just thoughtful, it was problematic. It would be wrong to use him as a test subject now...

...but she still had to do something.

She stopped thinking about retaliating for just one moment, long enough to pull the freezer open.

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_Chapter 3: My New Friend, the Housecat_

Characters: Naruto, Skuld

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Skuld slowly sat up in her bed and looked around her room before she sleepily rubbed her eyes. That had happened more than two weeks ago, why was she dreaming about it now?

Stretching lightly before letting out a yawn, she slowly rolled out of bed and walked over to her worktable to turn off a desk lamp. Reaching over her desk, she pulled her curtains open with a whoosh.

Skuld immediately held a hand above her eyes to shield them from the bright sunlight streaming into the room. She squinted outside for a few minutes before she pulled her chair out and sat down. Picking up a pencil, she continued yesterday's work with an irritated look on her face.

She really hated planning.

-o-o-o-o-

Outside, sitting at the kitchen table, Naruto's eyes suddenly flew open and he blearily sat up in his seat. Using the back of his hand to get rid of whatever was under his nose...his eyes slowly snapped into focus...

...And then he grinned.

Oh yeah. That happened two weeks ago. Heh, that was a good one.

Now what did he have planned today? After thinking about it for a moment, he sighed when nothing came up. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten up so early on the weekend.

"What day was it anyway?" Naruto wondered as he stopped playing with his cereal and looked at the calendar hanging in the kitchen. It was still showing September, the previous month, so he had to stand up from his seat and walk over. After lifting the page he counted: second week, Saturday, Sunday...Tuesday...

He stared...

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Skuld-chan! My birthday is tomorrow!" Naruto shouted at his roommate's back as he burst into her room.

Skuld had her tongue sticking out of a corner of her mouth when Naruto broke into her room with all the subtlety of a rampaging elephant.

She let out a yelp and dropped her pencil.

Skuld wasn't turning to him. She just sat in her spot and shook. Naruto soon forced down his urge to flee and stepped . "Skuld-chan?" He tried to see what she was doing.

Realizing that someone was peering over her shoulder, Skuld immediately stopped poking at her extended tongue to turn and glare furiously at him. "Nrrrto..." she growled.

Naruto quickly backed away with both hands in front of him. "Are you alright Skuld-chan?"

"No!" Skuld shouted as she reached out and grabbed an oversized carpenter's mallet.

"A-ah, Skuld-chan? What's that for?" Naruto asked as he took a step back.

Skuld stopped and looked at the object in her hand for a moment.

Naruto released his breath when she dropped it. The mallet made a soft thud when it hit the carpeted floor.

His relief was short-lived. Skuld was pulling out an even larger metal wrench out from her toolbelt. She stepped away from her bedpost.

Naruto frantically backed up several steps. His foot hit something. Before he knew it, he was falling backwards into a large pile of junk. When several pointy objects dug into his back he wanted to cry out...he really did. But he suppressed the urge because his self-preservation instinct were screaming not to make any sudden moves.

"You'd better have a good reason for barging into my room Naru-CHAN," her eyes flashed.

Naruto didn't cower, he was too manly to do that. Instead, he sprung forward and grabbed her leg. "It's all my fault! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he babbled tearfully.

Skuld tried to kick him off. "Stop that." she said with a look of disgust. Naruto held fast. When she finally realized that Naruto wasn't letting go, she stomp-dragged her way to her desk and sat down.

She tried to work for several moments.

And then she finally paused and put down her pencil with a huff before peering down. "Naruto."

Tear tracks ran down his face as he continued to cry. She really couldn't tell if he was faking it or not.

"Naruto."

"Naruto!" she shouted loudly while picking up a glass of water from off of her desk. She flipped it over and its contents fell on her roommate.

The crying ceased instantly, but Naruto looked like a half-drowned puppy.

Skuld quickly looked away, a guilty expression on her face. "Naruto...just...stop." she said in a small voice. "Okay? I'm not going to hurt you. It was a joke!"

"Skuld-chan isn't mad at me?"

"No!" she emphatically denied.

Naruto let go of her leg and threw his arms into the air. "Yay!" Water flew everywhere.

Skuld coolly brushed the water off of her face. It looked like he was fine now. "Yeah great, now leave." she ordered. "Come back later, okay?" She turned back to her blueprint and absentmindedly brushed at a wet spot. It streaked. Glaring at it for a moment, she finally decided to ignore it and hope that it dried soon. Sweeping some eraser bits from the schematic, she tapped her pencil against her mouth. "Maybe..." she muttered.

Skuld worked for a few minutes before she finally put her pencil down with a sigh.

"Nar-"

"Skuld-chan! My birthday is tomorrow!" he shouted up at her.

She paused. "Is it?"

"Yes!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

"Can you lower your voice a little?" Skuld irritably demanded.

Both hands flew to his mouth. "Sorry," he whispered.

There was no reply. It seemed like Skuld was lost in thought.

"Skuld-chan?"

"..."

"Skuld-chan?"

"..."

"Skuld-chan!"

"Shhh!! Can't you see that I'm busy here?!" Skuld snapped at her roommate before she stood up and walked up to something, was it her newest device?

"Yeah...some lead should enhance the self-repairing feature of the metal," she muttered in a low voice as she tapped the outer casing a few times with a small knuckle.

Probably.

"..." Naruto started to shake. He really wanted to ask her something. "Skuld-chan..."

"What is it already?" Skuld impatiently demanded. "What do you want?!"

"It's my birthday tomorrow."

She blinked and her irritation disappeared. "Is it?"

"Yep!" Naruto said as he puffed his chest out and held himself proudly.

"Oh. Well, thanks for letting me know," she graciously said before she turned back to her blueprint.

"What are you going to get me?"

Skuld turned to look at her roommate. "Huh?"

Naruto put his hands on his hips and glared impatiently at her.

Skuld's eyes lit up. "O-oh!" she thought about it for a moment and inspiration struck! "Now that...

Naruto leaned forward eagerly.

She smiled and held up a finger. "...is a secret!" she said with a wink.

His face collapsed. "Aww..."

Skuld turned back to the large roll of paper in front of her and erased a portion of the corner. "Okay...maybe lead would be too volatile; I should use fool's gold instead, but I have to keep it from touching the iron rings to prevent a flow of plasmons from compromising the matrix."

"Skuld-chan?"

"Hmm?" Skuld mumbled as she continued to work.

"When's your birthday? And how old are you?"

Skuld paused and stared at the paper in front of her. A scowl soon formed on her face and she whipped around to face her roommate. "That...is NONE of your business!"

"But..."

"Get out!"

Ducking under a thrown hunk of bread that was still in its plastic wrapper, Naruto quickly ran for it, not understanding why Skuld-chan was so angry.

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(The Next Day)

Skuld silently padded into the kitchen where her roommate was already eating breakfast with a huge smile on his face. _Morning people,_ she thought in annoyance.

He looked up. "Skuld-chan! Good morning!"

"Mornin'" came the grumpy reply as she automatically picked up a cup before reaching into the refrigerator for a carton with the cartoonish face of a cow on its front. She stared briefly at the the date printed at the top before pouring herself a generous glass of milk.

"..."

After taking out a bowl and spoon from the cupboard and a carton of ice cream from the freezer, Skuld settled down to eat.

After several bites, she finally looked up. "What?" Naruto had been staring intently at her for the past few minutes and she was feeling a bit worried.

He must have noticed her noticing him, because he said, "Well?"

"Huh?" she mumbled in a mechanical manner, the ice cream had not sunk in yet so she wasn't feeling very awake.

"Aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?"

Skuld suddenly started choking, Naruto quickly went over and struck her several times on the back...

...soon Skuld was reeling and turning blue.

"Stop Naruto," she gasped in a half-whisper before she forcefully shoved him away.

Without Naruto helpfully pounding upon her delicate body, she could finally start recovering. After taking a moment to recover her dignity, she picked up her cup of milk and took a long draught.

She finally opened one eye and, without turning her head, peered up at the boy standing next to her. "Today...is your birthday?" she said into the cup.

"Yes," Naruto sounded hurt.

Skuld's other eye opened as she lowered her cup and turned to him with surprise and dismay on her face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did!" he insisted.

Skuld thought about it for a brief moment. "Umm, well, Happy Birthday!" she quickly said, forcing a smile on her face.

Naruto brightened up almost immediately. "Thanks!" and then his face fell again. "But it sounds like you didn't get me a present."

"Birthday present? Didn't I get you a coat?"

"Eh? Didn't you get that because I lost my old jumpsuit?" He asked, deliberately leaving out just why he had lost it.

"Well it's your birthday present now."

Naruto glared down at her. "Stin-gy! Don't you always receive a birthday present on your birthday."

"Of course not! Not everyone celebrates their birthday."

"I know that!" Naruto shouted before his face fell, "But I always thought that when you did celebrate your birthday, you would always get presents." He started twiddling his fingers. "Sorry that I'm wrong, I've never had anyone to celebrate my birthday with before."

"What?!" Skuld was surprised. "Y-You haven't?!"

Naruto slowly shook his head and an outraged look appeared on Skuld's face.

Naruto felt the air grow darker. He raised his head. "Skuld-chan?"

Skuld took several deep breaths. "A-Are you sure? What about the Hokage?"

"He can't. He's always busy."

Skuld slammed her palm down onto the table, causing Naruto immediately leapt away from the table with a yelp.

"I can't believe it, just when I think they've reached a new low, they go and prove me wrong."

"Skuld-chan, you're scaring me..."

Skuld grabbed him by the shoulders and glared deep into his eyes. "Naruto. We are going to celebrate your birthday."

"Aren't we celebrating it right now?" he squeaked.

A sick look appeared on her face. "Of course not! Your first birthday party must be more special than this."

"Wait! Skuld-chan! I haven't finished my breakfast yet!"

"That can wait. Come on!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Okay Naruto, this is a drill (2). You know what a drill is, right?" Skuld said as she held an oddly shaped object with transparent tubes running from the back to the front. It looked like a mole with a horn on its forehead. She pressed the trigger once, twice, three times as an example. The horn let out a long whine as it whirred to life each time.

"Yes," Naruto listlessly replied.

Skuld sighed. "Naruto," she said in a tired voice. "You've been wanting to help for a while now.

"5 months."

Skuld ignored him. "I've decided to officially let you try again. But this time I'm training you first."

"But I know this stuff already!" he protested.

"Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes!"

Skuld stared at her roommate for several seconds. "Here," she finally said as she shoved the drill into her surprised roommate's hands.

"Really?!" he cried happily.

"Yup, now put a hole in-"

The drill whirred to life, interrupting Skuld's instruction. Naruto placed the tip of the drill bit down on the spot that Skuld was pointing at. So far so good.

But it was so slow! He pressed down on the back of the drill to make it work faster.

"Not so hard!" Skuld tried to shout over the din of the drill.

Apparently Naruto didn't hear her, because he decided to put even more weight on the back of the drill after seeing some initial success.

"Naruto!" Skuld cried.

The drill bit suddenly snapped, causing Naruto to stumble forward and faceplant the metal panel hard enough to make it bend inward.

And then the self-repairing features of the metal kicked in and the panel snapped back as it straightened itself out, incidentally flinging the blond boy off of its body (3).

He landed in a heap upon a large pile of junk, throwing several random items flying.

It was unfortunate that Banpei II-san picked that exact moment to enter the room.

Several small items struck it upside the head, causing it to fall over. And then it slowly pushed itself up, its eyes glowing an eerie red.

"That can't be good..." Naruto whispered.

It was a horrible sign.

Soon shouts were sounding from all around Skuld's room as the two struggled to fend off the murderous robot.

"Duck!"

"Get that wrench out of its hands!"

"My room!"

The two quickly ducked behind the large self-repairing metal plate that they were working on moment's earlier. The door-sized barrier soon turned out to be an effective blast shield since none of the items pinging off of the angled metal could pierce through and hit the bunkered children.

Skuld quickly came to a decision. "Naruto, I'm going to make a restraining bolt, but you need to hold it off for a few minutes."

"Why me?!"

He was a technology incompetent! The drill was proof of that. There was no way he could build a restraining device. Instead of voicing her concerns, "Just get out there!" she shoved him out.

"Skuld-chan! Help!" From the crashing sounds and numerous cries of pain, it sounded like she didn't even have one minute. Skuld hurriedly peeked out from around the corner and grabbed a pair of aluminum cans. In that brief moment, she happened to glance up and see how her roommate was doing. She winced.

Quickly ducking back into her hiding spot, she expertly stripped the lids off before a loud scream made her fumble the cans while she was in the middle of combining them together.

The room fell quiet as the echo of Naruto's death cry faded away. Skuld slapped a cover down and bolted it shut. The restraining bolt was ready. She sat in her hiding spot, sweating, waiting for her creation to appear from either end. She only had one shot at this and she had to make it count. Naruto's sacrifice could not be in vain.

But nothing happened. And for the longest of time, it remained quiet.

And then she heard a strange sound. It sounded like plastic sliding across each other.

The sound appeared from time to time, and her curiosity slowly increased.

"You got any 2's?" a voice finally broke through the silence.

That was...Naruto? She slowly peeked out.

"...?" Naruto and Banpei II-san were sitting on her bed and playing cards.

Naruto turned to her. "Skuld-chan! Good news! Banpei-tousan has calmed down."

"It's Banpei-II-san..." she hesitantly corrected him.

But Naruto wasn't paying attention. He was arguing with his opponent. "What?! I didn't cheat! You just suck at cards! H-hey, let me down!"

Skuld ducked as Naruto flew toward her position.

∗Thud∗

Skuld immediately threw herself to the ground as the self-repairing sheet metal that had been faithfully protecting her earlier warped in drastically. And then there was an audible twang as the metal snapped back into place.

Naruto cried as he was launched into the air. "Ow!" he shouted as he landed onto a large generator. Luckily, despite its size, this was one of her safer devices. Still, while it wouldn't turn Konoha into a giant crater, it was going to wreak havoc to the small room.

And soon the room was shaking as string of explosions happened around the room. Skuld just winced and stayed hidden behind the large panel, even when someone directly in the line of fire cried over and over for help.

When it was silent once again, Skuld slowly peeked out. She froze. Her room!

Naruto slowly sat up with a dazed expression before he looked around and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry Skuld-chan. I'll fix everything, I promise."

Skuld freaked out. Without wasting a breath, she pulled a bag of coins from her pocket and reached in. "No no, I'll take care of it. Here's twenty ryo." she frantically said while holding out a handful of coins. "Find your coat. Buy a bag of sugar. I'll bake you a cake.

"Eh? But Skuld-chan can't cook food without burning it! That's why-"

Skuld turned red. "Go!" she roared angrily.

"Going!" Naruto squeaked as he grabbed the coins and ran from the room.

-o-o-o-o-o-

He soon discovered that he had a problem.

"Get out you runt before you burn the store down!"

"Hey you bastard! I just wanted a bag of sugar!" Naruto angrily hollered back at the shop before he swiftly kicked a rock on the ground. Watching it bounce away for a moment, he shoved both hands into his pocket before stalking off grumbling.

Back inside of the shop, another customer was approaching the counter.

Should I worry about you running me out of the store too?

"No no no," the owner quickly said, trying to reassure his customer. "That was the...", he paused in a way that suggested that he wanted to say it but he couldn't, "...brat."

Despite the euphemism, the customer instantly knew who the shopkeeper was talking about. "What? It was here?"

The store owner had no time to respond.

"That punk's got a lot of nerve showing up today." The man roared as he dropped the basket and ran out to gather his friends.

The shop owner left the counter to pick up the basket. He hesitated a moment before he reached down and pulled a bottle of sake out from the rest of the groceries.

"To the demon's death," he said, raising the bottle into the air. He started chugging down the bottle's contents, wanting to forget what had happened 11 years ago.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto stalked down the road with his hands in both pockets. A storm cloud hung above his head. Dammit. That was 6 grocery stores so far. None of them would let him buy some sugar.

Spying another grocery store, he quickly hid himself away in an alleyway and pulled out his trap kit. Once the owner wasn't looking...

Before he could start working, an old man in heavy robes and a funny hat, a middle-aged man with long hair and white eyes, and a very small girl with white eyes walked past. Naruto quickly ducked behind the alleyway. What was the Hokage doing?

Peeking out, he stealthily followed the group.

Naruto finally snuck up close enough to listen. He strained his ears.

"Your worries are not unfounded Hiashi. We will do all that we can to-"

The old man suddenly turned to look straight at him.

"Hiashi, can we discuss this matter later?"

Naruto immediately shrunk back when the white-eyed man stopped walking and turned to stare intently at him. The man didn't look very happy.

The little girl looked up curiously at her father. When the white-eyed man finally nodded in agreement and led the small girl away, Naruto sighed in relief.

He turned around when he felt the old man approach. "Naruto-kun? What are you doing out today? Why aren't you at the academy?" the Third asked with a frown.

"Hokage-Jiji! It's my birthday."

"Yes, that's right," The Third murmured absentmindedly as he visually scanned the surrounding area, the nins that were supposed to guard Naruto were suspiciously absent.

"However, it was still irresponsible of you, Naruto. Even Hokage's go to the academy on their birthday."

"But I wanted to spend time with Skuld-chan," Naruto protested.

Oh ho! There was something peculiar about this situation. Was this young love? "Why don't you convince Skuld-san to attend the academy?" the Third suggested after giving the matter some thought. "Then you can learn to be a ninja and still spend time with her."

Naruto looked annoyed. "I try, but she's so crafty. She always has an excuse."

The Third hmmed for a moment before he looked around. "Where is Skuld-san anyway?"

"At home," Naruto quickly answered.

"Then why are you out here on this dreary day?"

"What are you talking about?!" Naruto shouted in surprise. "It might be cold, but the sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky."

"Yes yes, you're right," the Third said with an amicable nod. "But you should hurry home Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked down sadly. "I...can't." He said before kicking the ground irritably, creating a small dust cloud.

"?" the third looked questioningly down at the small boy.

"I promised Skuld-chan a bag of sugar. But no one wants to sell it to me."

The Third stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Come with me," he finally said.

"?" now it was Naruto's turn to be confused.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"I'll pay you back for this old man, I promise!" Naruto shouted happily as he clutched a small sack tightly to his chest.

"Don't worry about it," the Third said with a hearty chuckle, "When you're as old as I am, you tend to be less concerned with sweets."

Naruto grinned and turned to leave.

"Oh. Naruto-kun?" The Third quickly said.

Naruto stopped and turned around curiously.

"Happy Birthday."

"T-Thank you Hokage-jisan!"

"Hurry home, Skuld-san is waiting," the third said in a scolding tone of voice.

"Yeah!" Giving the Third a giant grin and a thumbs up, Naruto ran from the Hokage's office and rapidly galloped down the stairs of the Hokage tower.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Wow! Two people wished him a happy birthday so far! That was two more than last year!

He breathed out a cloud of white smoke. The air was kinda chilly.

But he didn't feel it. Because of his nice new coat. He pulled the orange coat tighter around himself to protect himself from the elements. A small frown slowly appeared on his face when he thought about where it came from...

"_Naruto! Watch out for the mud filled pail above the doorway!"_

"_Why would you put a pail full of mud above...huh?" he asked in confusion before the large sack that he had just stepped on exploded and covered him with a liberal amount of dust. The fshhh of water from the overhead sprinklers as they mistook the dust for smoke left him dripping wet and dirty._

"_Jeez, you're not much of a ninja are you Naruto?" the taller girl laughed innocently as she stepped into the living room._

"_Agh! Was this because I made you miss your show yesterday?!"_

"_Of course," she replied with a casual wave and an uncaring attitude. "And then you ran away instead of coming home."_

"_What?!" Naruto protested. "I didn't run away! I was uh...getting something."_

"_Exactly! You ran away."_

"_No way! I-"_

"_Aren't you late for the academy?" Skuld interrupted in a carefree manner, sensing that they were about to get into an argument that was going nowhere._

"_Ahh! I'm late!" the boy shouted as he struggled to wipe the mud from his jumpsuit. The mud wasn't coming off so he quickly ran to the bathroom and turned on the tap. "I can't believe it," he complained as he waited for the water to warm. "She's so evil. I recorded it for her so she didn't miss anything." He started to strip._

_Skuld was standing outside when her eyes bugged out and her face turned a bright red. "What are you doing?!" she shrieked as she covered her eyes and backed away._

"_I have to get the mud off!" Naruto shouted back._

_∗Slam!∗_

_Naruto paused and turned around. "Skuld-chan?" _

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

_Naruto banged on the door to Skuld's room a few minutes later._

"_What?" someone squeaked from the other side._

"_Skuld-chan! I haveta get to class but my clothes are soaking wet and the rest are in the wash. I can't find my last jumpsuit. Have you seen it?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Where?"_

_The door opened and several articles of clothing flew out. The door slammed shut just as a pair of red shorts flew into his face._

_Naruto banged on the door again._

"_What do you want this time?!"_

"_This isn't my jumpsuit!" Naruto shouted back as he held up a rose-pink t-shirt._

"_Just wear them! They'll fit!"_

"_No way!"_

"_Why not?"_

"_They're...they're...a girl wore them!"_

"_I'm glad you noticed."_

"_I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto hastily defended, before his stance changed. "Where is my jumpsuit anyway?!"_

_He heard Skuld-chan laugh nervously. "About that...do you remember Super Hot Air? (4)"_

_"Super Hot Air?"_

_"It's a new type of clothes dryer that I'm building." Skuld said in a happy tone of voice. "It dries quicker than a normal drier because-"_

" _Skuld-chan, I'm late! I don't have time to listen to a lecture!" Naruto whined before a light bulb flashed above his head. "Wait, w__e can use that to dry my clothes!"_

_There was a pause from the other side. "It's not ready yet," Skuld finally said in a quiet voice._

"_What?" Naruto asked in confusion. _

_A minute passed by before there was movement on the other side of the door. It soon opened and a hand clutching a small orange...thing slowly edged out._

_The blood left his face as he gasped. "What has she done to you!?" he shouted._

_Before Skuld knew it, the item in her hand was gone from her grip._

_Naruto rapidly turned the shrunken jumpsuit around to examine it from all sides. This would barely fit on a baby now._

_He immediately started banging on the door._

_"What?" A contrite voice quietly asked._

"_Replace it!"_

_Skuld was silent for several moments. "Aren't you being a little too melodramatic?" she finally asked._

"_Replace it, please!" Naruto cried._

"_Okay okay. I'll go find a replacement when you leave."_

_Naruto quickly calmed down after obtaining the promise from his roommate. "When I...hey wait. Aren't you going to class today, Skuld-chan?"_

"_..."_

"_Skuld-chan? You don't have to replace it that quickly..." _

"_No no, it's not that. I have things in my lab that I need to maintain today." she quickly answered._

"_What?! But-"_

"_Sorry Naruto, but I need to keep them in good shape," she interrupted. "I don't want anything to blow up."_

"_But if you keep this up, you're going to fail."_

"_Don't worry about it Naruto, everything will work out," was the calming response._

_Naruto smiled. He believed her. She'll find a way to pass, because she promised (1). And then it occurred to him. "Skuld-chan, what should I do about my clothes?"_

"_I gave you clothes to wear!"_

"_But I can't wear them!"_

"_Why not? Is it because they're girl's clothes?"_

"_Yes!" _

"_It's just for a day, no one will notice."_

"_Yes they will!"_

_Do you want me to turn you into a girl so you would stop complaining?!" there was the sound of rummaging on the other side of the door. "Because I know I have something in here." _

_There was the sound of footsteps as Naruto hastily ran off._

_After a few minutes of blissful quiet outside of Skuld's room, Naruto reappeared and raised his hands to knock Skuld's door again_

"_What - now?" came the impatient voice._

"_Skuld-chan, I don't have a jacket and it's freezing outside."_

"_...Jeez!"_

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto stopped reminiscing for a moment to touch the coarse but warm fabric of his coat.

_There was no one in the room when he found the package..._

-o-o-o-o-o-

_...When he removed the lid from the box, he was shocked. Then a look of ecstasy appeared when he lifted the coat out from it's box. It was like a trenchcoat in that it was nice and long, easily reaching his knees, but it was made of a heavy woollike fabric. It just screamed cool, especially because it was mostly orange. _

"_Skuld-chan! Thank you!"_

"_I'm glad you like it." A grease covered Skuld said as she walked into the living room to see why Naruto was being so energetic today._

"_Ah!" Naruto's look of happiness disappeared just like that. He gaped speechlessly in wide-eyed shock. Clutched in his roommate's hands were several strips of orange fabric. "Ah...ah...Nooooo!"_

_Skuld quickly covered her ears. "What? What is it?!" she tried to holler over the din._

_Naruto suddenly stopped yelling and threw his new coat onto the couch. Before Skuld could chew him out for throwing away her gift like that, he charged at her._

_The grease covered fabric disappeared from a surprised Skuld's grip. _

"_She...she...Skuld-chan's a meanie!" Naruto cried as he rubbed his face up and down the orange fabric, completely ignorant of the black streaks that started running up and down his whisker-scarred cheek. Tears flowed freely as he lamented the loss of one of his precious._

"_W-what?" Skuld clumsily asked as she slowly recovered from her fright. It took her a moment to piece the scene together. "Honestly Naruto, I was just reusing your old jumpsuit. It was too small for you, remember?" _

"_Waah, I can't believe she cut you apart!" he continued to cry._

_-o-o-o-o-o-_

A stormcloud rumbled over his head. Oh, she replaced it alright. And then she cut it up just because it was too small. He still hadn't forgiven her for doing that!

But...

He hugged the orange coat tightly around him. He couldn't argue with how warm this new coat felt today.

"Meow!"

Naruto looked down at the small brown cat that was shivering slightly as it rubbed itself against his pants. It wasn't completely brown, a large patch on its back and around its eye were white. Its large green eyes reminded him of Sakura-chan's. Moving the sack to his other hand, he bent down to pet the purring cat.

Would Skuld-chan let him keep it?

-o-o-o-o-

She tried to forget about the current state of her room by watching TV.

∗click click∗

Nothing was on.

"Skuld...n!"

Skuld looked away from the glowing screen. For a moment there, she thought that she had heard her name being called.

Soon there was heavy bumping from outside indicating that someone was running up the stairs.

"Skuld-chan!" a muffled voice shouted from the other side of the closed door.

So she wasn't hearing things.

The front door splintered inward as it was blown open from the outside.

She stood up with a sigh, an odd hammer in hand as she went to greet her roommate. A friendly greeting, of course. The hammer was just to scare him, nothing more.

"Naru-chan. How many times have I told to use those bombs I gave you against my sister, and not against our apartme-" She anger faded when she saw his cut, bruised and tattered appearance. His injuries were promptly forgotten when she saw the desperate look on his face. _Uh oh._

"Skuld-chan! Please! Save it!" Naruto shouted, not noticing that Skuld had just referred to him with the pet-name that he despised. He held up his hands.

The exiled goddess looked down. "Ahh! Get that away from me!" she shrieked as she leapt back. She collided with the living room wall which she scrabbled against in her struggle to put as much distance between herself and that thing.

She hadn't counted on the distraught boy following after her, holding his precious cargo up higher. Sensing the futility of running away, she quickly covered her eyes as whatever he was holding was almost touching her nose. The coppery stench was overwhelming and she almost fainted.

"Skuld-chan! I didn't mean to! It's all my fault! Please! Save it!" the boy pleaded, shaking rather violently. He was almost in tears.

The goddess struggled to crack an eye open to look again. It closed instantly and her hands flew to her mouth. "Hrrrb..." She struggled to keep the contents of her stomach down.

Naruto was holding a small animal, and whatever it was wasn't going to remain long in this world..

"How-How did this happen?" the goddess stammered, backing away as she struggled to regain her wits. Naruto needed her to be strong. She could do that, right? But...but there was so much blood!

"I was busy picking up the sugar like you asked when this cat walked up to me. I stopped to play with it...and then...and then..." He hiccuped as he choked back a sob. "I tried so hard to protect it!"

Skuld quickly latched onto an idea to keep Naruto from breaking down and crying. "H-have you taken her to the Inuzukas?"

Hope dawned on his face. With a great long sniff, the boy pulled a long trail of mucus back into his nose. "No? Will they help? I'll go right now!" The blond boy started to head for where the front door used to be, carefully cradling his dying passenger.

Now that the dying creature was out of her view, she could think more rationally. "Naruto," Skuld quietly called out.

It was so quiet, and yet the blond boy heard her call him as if she was yelling in his ear. The aforementioned boy stopped to listen to what Skuld had to say.

"Stop. You won't make it if you went over now. The stab wound in her side is too deep, it punctured her lung." Skuld continued. In the ensuing silence, they could hear the blood bubbling from the wound as the cat labored to breathe. "She's fighting, but she doesn't have long..."

A grimace filled his face and the tears began flowing freely. "I-I will too make it!" The boy shouted hoarsely as he turned to leave again.

"Naruto!" she shouted, freezing him in his tracks. "Just accept it. It's Father's will. He will ensure that she will be happy in heaven. I promise." She said this with a small smile and a reassuring tone of voice.

"..." Naruto stared at the girl in front of him. He frequently forgot that Skuld was a goddess, but when she did weird things like this he would remember. And Skuld knew what she was talking about. But it still looked strange when a 10 year old girl appeared to be saying this! Besides...

...he looked down at the dying cat in his hands...

"Naruto?" Skuld asked curiously as she stepped a little closer.

Naruto suddenly looked up angrily. "No!" he shouted as he glared at his roommate. "No! No! She'll make it! I'll save her!" He leapt over the front door as he bolted out of the recently enlarged entrance.

"Naruto!" Skuld shouted as she immediately ran after him.

(2 Floors Down...)

"Stop!" Skuld demanded, as she grabbed onto his shoulder. It was a good thing that Naruto was being so careful with his passenger, otherwise she wouldn't have had a hope of catching him.

"Let me go Skuld-chan! This is my fault!" he shouted desperately as he struggled weakly to break her light grip.

Skuld saw the hopeless look and sighed sadly. A reassuring look appeared on her face as she reached forward and lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Naru-chan. I'll save her."

A small smile wormed its way onto his face. "It's Naruto, not N-Naru-chan." He said with a small shaky laugh. He took a deep breath before a sob wracked his body.

Skuld smiled when she sensed that Naruto was calming down a little. Gently guiding him back upstairs, she wondered what she could do...

And then her eyes fell upon a door that was one floor below their apartment room. Because of Naruto's reputation, no one else lived here and the manager didn't seem to care what they did, so she rented that room at a discounted rate and used it for storage.

It tickled at her memory, _didn't she put something in there recently? Something that she could use?_

She placed her finger upon the fingerprint scanner and the touchpad lit up (5).

Moments later, there was a click as the keyless lock verified her identity. Opening the storage room door, her eyes darted a dark corner where a small metal body sat. She had recently put it aside to work on later.

As she walked up to it, she realized that it was too big to mimic a housecat's body, but after modifying the shape of the head, altering the chassis so that it contained a life-support system, lessening the range of motion in the joints, and adding some skin and hair for aesthetics...maybe...

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

(10 Hours Later)

The sun slowly rose over the horizon, painting the sky a nice reddish color. Skuld blinked a few times when Mr. P C's monitor started flashing (6).

With a slight gesture, a glowing translucent keyboard appeared from thin air. A few taps later, and she found that the solar arrays were operating at near maximum efficiency.

Everything was ready.

There was the sound of a pile of parts shuffling aside when Naruto sleepily sat up in his spot.

After entering another key sequence the box next to her bed clanged before metal shields slid down. A tube with crystal clear walls were revealed, contained within was a pink-haired girl of about twelve.

The air hissed when the glass swung open, and the body flopped facefirst onto the bed.

Skuld and Naruto waited with baited breath. There was no movement for the longest of times...

"Nya?" the new girl said as she came online. That was when she was tackled by a blond blur.

"We did it Skuld-chan!" Naruto shouted...and that was when everything went haywire.

"Nya! Nya! Mya miya!" the android shouted as she flailed wildly, clearly not in control of her limbs.

Skuld's mouth formed a thin line as she shook her head in annoyance. Still needed work.

"Skuld-chan help!" Naruto shouted as he tried to get out from the tangle of limbs.

However, she soon smiled and walked up to the pair. "Happy Birthday, Naruto," she murmured as she calmly dodged a wild kick.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Omake! Ichi!

"How did you know that it was a girl from only one look, Skuld-chan?"

"Uhh, ahh, Naruto, I'll tell you when you're older."

"But you're just as old as I am!"

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Chapter Preview!**

"What's going on?" Naruto asked as the person behind him continued to shove him forward.

"Get out there and introduce me." the short girl asked as she gave him one final push and he appeared on the stage. The white-eyed girl stepped out after him.

"Fine, fine." Naruto said with a casual wave of his hand before he whipped out a microphone. "Hey everyone, this is Hanabi. Say 'Hi,' Hanabi."

∗ Thud. ∗

"Jerk!" Hanabi coldly said before she turned around and stalked off.

Naruto painfully stood up. "What'd I do?"

**Next Chapter: Fireworks!**

**See you then!**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Skuld's Technology  
**Naruto: "Thank you Skuld-chan! Thank you thank you thank you! I'll never forget this!"

Miya: Nya?

__

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

_Power Drill (2)_

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Sources disagree about the origins of this device. Some claim that Skuld dug it up. Others claim that Skuld made it using brick and cement. Whatever the case, this was among the first few tools that Skuld had to work with and it wasn't the first one that Naruto broke.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

_Self-Repairing Metal (3)  
_

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

The self-repairing feature of these sheets of metal make them useful for places where damage frequently occurs. Skuld uses it for parts that wear. She also uses it to line her walls...because they have a tendency to gain holes. Especially when a well-meaning Naruto walks in.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

_Super Hot Air (4)  
_

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

It shrinks clothes. Yes, it's not supposed to do that.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

_Fingerprint Scanner (5)  
_

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

This isn't an ordinary fingerprint scanner. It's a super powerful fingerprint scanner. I mean, do goddesses even have fingerprints? Yes actually, but this also measures dimensional resonance and energy signature for extra accuracy.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

_Mr. P C (6)  
_

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

It's...

...a computer. Ooooo.

It's not a game machine though...it's built more for keeping track and controlling things in Skuld's lab.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Naruto's Inventions**  
Skuld: "What? No, I don't believe it."  
Miya: Unya-nya?

- None at this time -

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Miya's Inventions  
**Skuld: "Shouldn't we be talking about what inventions are in Miya instead?"  
Naruto: "I thought Skuld-chan was the only one who could make things. This is so cool! Do you think Miya will teach me?"

- None at this time -

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**Character Data Sheet**  
_New Character!_

**Miya  
Miya has pink hair and green eyes, but she looks nothing like Sakura. Smaller forehead for one. ∗snicker∗**

- Android with a cat's brain. But you really can't tell she's not human.  
- Series Origin: Original Character (based on Nuku Nuku from All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku)  
- Age: ?  
- Birthdate: October 11  
- Blood Type: ?  
- Known Immediate Family: Naruto (creator, brother), Skuld (creator, sister)

Traits:  
_- Currently Unknown -_

-o-o-o-o-

A/N:

The operation had been a success. Naruto was the one in charge of the surgical work. Once his determination kicked in, Naruto had lost his squeamishness and used the knife remarkably well...

As for Skuld, she was trying her hardest not to panic since she was the one directing the operation while modifying the chassis on the fly.

**If you think this story sounded vaguely familiar, it's a parallel to Nuku Nuku's existence. (All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku)**

Have you ever read one of your older chapters and thought, "Holy! Who the hell wrote this?! The guy was a genius!!"

...I hate that feeling!

Notes:

(1) If you look closer, you'll see that Skuld never said a thing about passing or failing. In other words, she didn't promise a thing.

-o-o-o-o-


	5. Ch4: Fireworks!

_ When the Impossible Happens, Good or Bad, It's going to be great!_

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ah! My Goddess, or All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. I am merely borrowing ideas and characters to create a story that others will enjoy. In no way do I intend to make a profit off of this story.

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_Half a year has passed since the events in Chapter 3. Naruto is now 11, and the days were starting to grow warmer now that it was April. _

_Because of Skuld's cutting edge technology, hidden deep in their storage room was a small machine that could make small items of exceptional quality. It took some doing, but Naruto finally convinced Skuld of the benefits of selling the items that they produced from this machine. Within a week, they had the Hokage's approval and their small mail order business began._

_The fox container's reputation meant that they had few customers. But they had very low overhead, so it was easy to remain in business. In addition, some of their buyers really loved what they sold and bought frequently. Take the Hyuuga for instance..._

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Chapter 4: Fireworks!

Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Hanabi, Miya

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"Hokage-jiji!" Naruto shouted as he ran into the office.

"Naruto?" the Third asked as he looked up from his paperwork. Ah, a pleasant diversion from the mundane.

"We need an escort again!" Naruto shouted as he held up a purchase order form.

"Third form from the left, right next to housing requests," the Third gruffly said as he returned his attention to the mission requests sitting before him.

"Eh? But I want you to fill it out!"

"I'm busy Naruto," the Third said calmly as he took several relaxing puffs from his pipe.

"Aww jeez, I hate paperwork!" the blond complained as he reached for the necessary form.

The Third blew out a large cloud of smoke before chuckling at the irony. His amusement remained as he told Naruto what to fill in the blanks.

Name of Requestor: "Uzumaki Naruto"  
Mission Rank: "D-rank."  
Mission Description: "Escort required for a small arms delivery within the village."  
Mission Time: "1 hour"  
(Please remember that there is a 3x rate if mission runs over expected time.)  
...

-o-o-o-o-

Urd was lazily filling out a form on her typewriter when a beep caught her attention. She sat up and stared as a printout slowly appeared in front of her.

Her eyes widened.

"Oh ∗∗∗∗."

**Kabooom. ** "Gyaaaaargh!"

Belldandy quickly appeared in the doorway of Urd's office. "Is something wrong, Urd?" she worriedly asked her heavily singed sister.

"I found it!" Urd shouted, holding out a soot covered parchment that was covered with burn marks and holes.

Belldandy hesitantly reached out and took the parchment from her sister's grip. She quickly glanced over it once before her eyes narrowed. She studied the document again, carefully this time. She finally looked up at her sister in confusion.

"A request filed to void any wishes granted to ninjas? It has been approved recently, but it won't help Skuld." She glanced at the form again. "I'm afraid that I don't understand, everything appears to be legal."

Urd shook her head. "Look at who filed it."

"Loki?" Belldandy asked, clearly still not seeing where the problem lie.

"He's a conniving rat. He doesn't do things in a legal manner unless he's up to something."

"Are you sure?" Belldandy wanted to believe her sister, but Loki always struck her as a gentlemanly sort of god, if a bit mischievous.

-o-o-o-o-

"The 25th? Isn't that a school day?" The Third asked as he looked at the date on the mission request form.

"Daisuke wanted it as soon as possible, so I'll deliver as soon as possible! Besides, we're learning Bunshin, how hard could that be?" Naruto said with a fox grin on his face, forgetting that he had failed the genin exam two years ago because he didn't know how to perform that ninja skill.

Nearly a year and a half had passed and he still hadn't found the need to learn it, mainly because he had forgotten to take last year's exam. He wasn't going to forget this year's, he even asked Skuld-chan to remember for him. But it was still 7 months away! How hard could it be to learn an academy level skill in that time period?

Sarutobi sighed before he stamped an approval on the form. "Very well then." He was pretty certain that the Hyuuga had no need for such swiftness, but the old man could not figure out what could possibly make Naruto want to miss a day at the academy.

-o-o-o-o-

"C'mon, we don't have all day!" A genin shouted as he stood in front of a large wooden cart which was loaded with several long flat boxes. Contained within were smoke bombs.

"Shut up Hiro!" his only female teammate shouted. She was seated on the back of the cart with her legs dangling over the edge.

"Coming!" came a loud voice from within the shop. Naruto emerged a minute later, dressed in nice suit. He would have looked quite respectable...if the suit itself weren't colored a bright orange.

"Again with the orange? How come I don't need to wear a suit too?" came a voice from behind him. Whoever was speaking was hidden in the darkness of the shop.

"Don't worry about it Skuld-chan! I've been there many times already, they won't mind."

Emerging from the darkness was an elegant girl with extremely long black hair. She was dressed casually, a bit conservatively actually with a loose sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a green grease marked headband to complete the ensemble. She noticed that the trio of genins were glaring at Naruto. Despite the harshness of their attack, her roommate appeared not to notice.

"Did you remember to tell Miya-chan that we will be out for a few hours?" Skuld whispered to Naruto as he bent down to pick up a handle of a wooden cart.

Naruto shuddered briefly before he whispered back, "I even left a note on the table."

Skuld nodded before she climbed up the side and took a seat on the front of the cart

"I'm glad you finally decided to come, Skuld-chan," Naruto said as he watched her take her seat.

"You keep bugging me to have a look," the black haired girl replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice before she angrily rounded on the rude escort and took matters into her own hands.

All three genin immediately looked away.

Skuld must have looked like Godzilla. After all, when Naruto saw an angry look on her face, he tended to turn and run far far away. To have such bravery to merely turn away, these three were nins that Konoha could be proud of.

The last comment was a complete and utter lie.

Skuld was just frowning, and many would agree that her older sisters had far scarier frowns. Therefore it wasn't her looks that caused the three to turn away. Instead, it was the small blackboard with the genin's profits from this mission minus a hefty amount. Beneath this were the words 'Rudely staring.' It was circled heavily with an extremely small total written right next to it.

Naruto looked curiously at the back of the blackboard, wondering what Skuld-chan had written on it to make the three genin turn away like that. Maybe...

His thoughts were interrupted when a senbon-chewing man wearing a bandanna over his head appeared next to him. Naruto looked up at the jounin.

"Ready?" Genma asked, having done this before. The blond boy nodded.

"Okay, on the count of three. One...Two..."

"Three!" The two shouted together as they heaved upwards on the long cart handles.

The cart suddenly tilted backwards as its front rose a bit from their combined effort. Heaving forward together, the blond haired boy and the senbon chewing man began pulling the large cart towards their destination, the Hyuuga mansion.

As they traveled, the second oldest member of the group watched his students from the corner of his eye.

It wasn't that the genin weren't helping with the pulling that bothered the senbon-chewing jounin. It wasn't part of their mission. What did irritate him, though he hid it well, was his team's lackadaisical attitude in guarding the cart. It could cost them the mission. Maybe even their lives if this continued. An eye ticked, he was going to teach them to take missions more seriously, even if they hated their client.

-o-o-o-o-

"Delivery!" Naruto shouted at the man and woman at the front gate.

The two white-eyed guards deactivated their bloodline before giving the merchants and their escort a slight nod to let them know that it was safe to proceed.

They stopped in front of the entrance at the back of the mansion. Naruto and Genma lowered the cart and worked together to unload the cart's contents into a small receiving room just beside the entrance.

The small room was sealed off on three sides by rice paper walls. The tatami mats lining the floor were covered with a whitish-gray powder, which rapidly formed footsteps as Naruto and Genma entered and exited the room. But they thought nothing of it...it was probably the leftover residue from a failed smoke bomb. A couple actually, there was too much powder on the ground to be just one bomb.

Naruto had been a bit confused when they asked him to place the shipment into this room instead of the usual one, but he guessed that it was because the other room was a bit too full to hold anything else. He couldn't tell though, the door was closed.

It took little time for the two to empty the cart. Standing in front of the stacked crates, Naruto paid the jounin and thanked him for his help. However...

"What? No tip?" One of the boys shouted angrily. It was obvious that he had been carefully watching how much money had changed hands. The other two genin froze for a moment before they turned back.

"Yeah! What the hell you cheap bastard!" the genin female shouted afterwards.  
"See if we ever accept a mission from you again!" said the last member of the team.

Skuld had something scathing to say in return, but Naruto quickly covered her mouth with one hand as he reached into his pocket with another.

He gave a reassuring grin to his friend before he turned to the genin team. "Guys guys," the blond boy said with a disarming smile. He quickly pulled his hand from his pocket and dumped a bunch of coins into the team instructor's hands. Genma stared at the extra money for a moment before he nodded and led his team out of the compound.

"Uzumaki-san." Skuld calmly said as she shoved the hand from her face and turned to her roommate. Once 'Naru-chan' stopped having an effect on her blond-haired roommate, she had to find another way to express her irritation with her roommate. She soon discovered that Naruto hated hearing others address him formally.

As expected, the blond boy winced the instant the last syllable left her mouth. "Call me Naruto, Skuld-chan! And don't worry! I know that they don't deserve it...but those are my special coins. Everything will be fine," Naruto said as he patted her gently on the arm. "Special!" he repeated as a wide grin filled his face and he gave her a thumbs up.

Skuld looked at him in confusion. Special coins? She wasn't aware that Naruto had them.

A Hyuuga guard peered into the room. The two children turned to look at her. Seeing that she had their attention, she quickly said, "Daisuke will be with you shortly. If you wish, you may freely walk around the mansion while you wait." She walked off to continue her patrol.

The two took a moment to process what the lady had said before Naruto gave his friend a light push, "You go ahead Skuld-chan."

"What about..." Skuld started to ask.

"I'm staying here to watch the goods, Skuld-chan! I'm not going to let them sneak the shipment away again."

"You dare accuse the Hyuuga of dishonorable conduct?" came a third voice. The two looked to see a white eyed man enter the room. He had a charming smile and neatly combed hair. He also had the caged bird seal on his forehead, indicating that he was a member of the branch house.

"We're ninjas," Naruto deadpanned at the newcomer.

"Fair enough. I believe we can tear up that contract where we agree to pay you a thousand ryo if you lose your shipment inside of our mansion. Since we're ninjas, it's not like we're going to honor it," the tall man said with a shrug.

The blond boy recoiled in horror for a brief second before he shot forward and shouted, "no way!"

"Who is...this?" Skuld curiously asked.

Naruto turned around angrily before he sheepily deflated. Caught up in the moment, he had completely forgotten about Skuld-chan. He started gesturing frantically to his roommate, "Ah! Skuld-chan! Sorry! This is Daisuke Hyuuga, he's the one that buys from us."

"It's a pleasure to meet you young miss," Daisuke said as he gave her an elegant bow. One which Skuld reciprocated.

"Will you be staying?" the Hyuuga asked.

"No no, Skuld-chan was just leaving," Naruto quickly said as he started to push the protesting girl toward the door.

Daisuke blinked before a grin appeared on his face, "In that case, I advise you to have a look at the gardens. Many visitors find it a nice place to wile away the time."

"Yes, that's nice," Naruto nodded eagerly as he gave her one final shove. "Bye Skuld-chan, see you in a bit."

With that, the door slid shut behind her with a crash and Skuld found herself standing alone in an ornate well-lit hallway with her back to the sliding door.

Naruto's loud shout suddenly sounded from behind the closed doors, "If you ninja the shipment again, I'll have no choice but to double our asking price next time."

"Are you still accusing the Hyuuga of treachery? " An amused voice asked.

"Yes!"

"In that case..."

"Nooo! Wait! One and a half times then!"

Placing a hand on her forehead and groaning in dismay, Skuld ran off before she witnessed her roommate making a total fool of himself.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Excuse me."

Hanabi paused and looked up curiously at the stranger. Even if the clothes were ugly, the beautiful girl looked nice in them.

"Could you tell me how to find the garden?" the black-haired girl asked.

Hanabi stopped thinking about the stranger's ugly clothes when she realized that her father hadn't replied yet. She quickly looked around before she realized who the stranger was really addressing. Panic immediately set in as she realized that she was standing alone in an empty hallway with a complete stranger.

Fighting the urge to run without answering, which father would label as extremely rude, Hanabi quickly raised her hand and pointed down the hall. "That way," she quickly said before she about-faced and scurried off.

Peeking out from around the corner, Hanabi watched as the stranger stopped and turned to a wall before walking up to it and touching it. What was she doing?

When the girl continued on her way, Hanabi quietly followed after her. A sense of curiosity driving her on.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld gasped when she saw the garden. It reminded her of an older time and for a brief moment, she felt that she was back at the temple. The feeling quickly disappeared, but the nostalgic mood remained as she wandered the well-lit path of the courtyard. She paused when she noticed something...

...why were there so many orange and yellow flowers?

-o-o-o-o-o-

"That's highway robbery! I said that we could remain in business with that much, but we need to eat too-" he paused for a moment to regard his abacus. He quickly flipped a few beads around, "2550 ryo," Naruto demanded.

"If you wish to demand that much, I must ask to inspect the quality of the shipment." Daisuke said as he picked up one of the smoke bombs.

"Go ahead," Naruto said with a careless gesture and the two worked together to uncover the lids of all of the crates.

After rifling through each crate before digging deeply into one of them to inspect the contents at the bottom, Daisuke gave a slight nod of approval. "It appears that these are of the same quality as the previous shipment."

"Was there any doubt," Naruto asked with a lazy foxlike grin.

"A little," The Hyuuga buyer admitted. "I will agree with your asking price. However, I must ask that you allow me to test one to ensure that your commitment to quality still holds."

"Alrig..." Naruto was about to say before he paused. "no."

Daisuke blinked before a half-lidded expression appeared on his face. "No?" he asked, his voice tinged with a hint of suspicion.

Naruto said nothing, choosing to glare back at the guy, daring him to ask why.

"Is there something wrong with this shipment?"

"No."

"Pray tell why I am not allowed to sample the wares. As you know, I will, assume responsibility for the mess." he said in a weak attempt to convince the vendor.

"No way, not gonna" Naruto shouted crossing his arms in an 'X' and shooting down his client's offer.

"Then I must ask that you leave, the Hyuuga have no need for defective goods."

Naruto had an indignant look on his face. "There's nothing wrong with these...hey, wait. What am I defending for? You're the reason why I refuse to let you try one out."

"Oh?"

"The last time I sent you a shipment of smoke bombs, you blew one up in front of my face and took the shipments right out from under my nose when I couldn't see."

"I have told you before. A rival clan had entered the mansion during the commotion."

"I'm not stupid you know!"

"Of course not. However, neither am I. And I wish to verify that the smoke bombs work as advertised."

"They work!"

How can I be sure without trying them?

Naruto let out a large breath as he struggled to come up with a solution.

How about if I threw it at the far wall. We can still appraise the effectiveness of the smoke bombs, but from a distance this time.

"...Fine. Yeah, that'll work. I was going to come up with that idea anyway," Naruto loudly proclaimed.

The Hyuuga buyer gave a friendly smile before he picked up one of the teardrop shaped objects from the crate and calmly lobbed it at the far wall.

∗Boom!∗

The smoke cloud expanded and quickly filled the small room, covering its occupants in less than a moment.

What the hell! Naruto coughed.

Get some air in here, Daisuke ordered before he let out several coughs of his own..

There was the sound of shuffling within the room before several doors were slid open and the smoke started to thin out.

When the smoke finally cleared, both buyer and vendor had large sweatdrops hanging from the back of their heads. Struck by a moment of clarity, Naruto turned to where the goods were supposed to be...

-Blink-...-blink- -blink-

Naruto blinked a few more times before he rubbed his eyes. "Eh?!" The cases of smoke bombs were gone! A look to the side revealed that Daisuke had a frown on his face.

"I have verified that the smoke bombs are of adequate quality, and would normally pay the asking price. However, it appears that your shipment has disappeared again." He turned to the guards waiting outside. "Search the premises for intruders!"

The guards quickly hurried away.

"You tricked me!" Naruto angrily shouted.

"I did no such thing," Daisuke calmly replied, completely unruffled by the accusation. "Please wait a moment while the guards attempt to retrieve whatever you have lost."

"What's with all the noise?" Skuld asked as she walked into the room.

"Skuld-chan! You're done already?!"

"I think so. Did you want me to stay in the garden for a little longer?" she asked with an inquiring expression on her face.

Several guards appeared before Naruto could reply. At Daisuke's questioning look, they shook their heads. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, it appears that your stock has been taken once again. We will endeavour to discover who was at fault this time. But for now, we will assume responsibility and, per our agreement, reimburse you 1000 ryo," the Branch family member quickly said before handing Naruto a small stack of bills. "We'll call you if we require additional supplies." He bowed and turned around.

"..." Skuld turned to look at Naruto.

"This isn't what it looks like Skuld-chan..." Naruto babbled as he started to sweat bullets.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi quietly peeked in through the open doorway. Her eyes widened when she saw the blond boy dressed in orange.

A mildly curious look would always appear on her father's face whenever that whiskered boy appeared before them. Maybe father wanted to find out more about that boy?

But why hadn't he made a move yet? The Hyuuga were a prestigious clan, it should be a simple task to gather the knowledge desired.

Maybe father thought that the boy wasn't worth the cost. He did look rather poor.

It then occurred to her. What if she captured and brought in the tacky-clothed boy for him? She wouldn't demand a reward from her father. And she could prove that she was talented at the same time.

A plan quickly formed in her head. But she needed a few of the Hyuuga guards to complete this mission. How would she enlist them without her father's influence?

A determined expression appeared on her face. She would need a letter.

It took little time for her to compose the letter. She left it on her desk and hurried out of her room.

The hastily placed paper slid down a little, displaying its contents for everyone to see.

_Your daughter is ours. Bring a million ryo to the North Gate at 5 in the afternoon if you wish to see her again._

-o-o-o-o-

"Sorry Skuld-chan!" Naruto babbled over and over again as he pulled on the handle of the cart, easily moving it along with the help of the on-board mule motor. The AI must have been really happy today. It even sounded like it was purring. Maybe because Skuld was nearby?

Skuld finally slapped the bench in annoyance. She quickly regretted her action as she brought her hand back up and hastily blew on it.

At the same time, the cart had ground to a complete halt.

"Naruto." Skuld finally ground out, ignoring the pain in her hand. "Please stop. It's alright." When Naruto showed no signs of letting up, she quickly barked, "Pull!" The cart started moving again.

She had wanted to help him bring the cart home, but Naruto seemed to think this was his punishment for failing to make a deal again. It wasn't like she cared much for the business, but if he was willing to go the extra mile, who was she to complain?

The trip continued.

As Skuld boredly stared at Naruto's orange tuxedo, something finally clicked. Her roommate had a ridiculous love for orange. While the yellow didn't seem to quite fit, she was pretty confident about this observation. "Naruto?"

"What's up Skuld-chan?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Great job with the garden."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"The garden-" Skuld started to say.

"I know! I heard you the first time," Naruto quickly said. "But I didn't do anything to their garden." He paused for a moment to think about it before he vigorously shook his head. "Yeah, I didn't."

"Really? But many of the flowers in the Hyuuga garden are orange and yellow."

"Wow! They are?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"..." Skuld waited for Naruto to continue.

"I haven't seen the garden yet, but that sounds really cool. I'll definitely have a look next time."

"So you're not the one responsible for the odd colors?"

"Huh? What do you mean Skuld-chan?"

Skuld coughed and averted her eyes. "It's...nothing."

-o-o-o-o-o-

∗Thud∗

Hanabi let out a squeak of apology as she struggled through the thick crowd and tried to keep up with the cart.

"Hey! hey wait." Someone called out from behind her, his voice rapidly disappearing amidst the bustle.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Finally home!" Naruto said as Skuld pushed a button on a sleek-looking remote.

The brick wall of one side of the apartment lifted up.

Under Naruto's prodding, Skuld had rented a room on the ground floor and, with Banpei II-san's help, had it converted into a garage. The entrance was a bit strange, however it worked nicely for them.

"It was a bit busy today, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! We could barely move through the crowd."

"Next time, let's shrink the cart before we leave."

Naruto shut off the light.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi froze in place when the room suddenly became pitch black. She shouldn't be afraid right? After all, Hyuugas possessed the best bloodline in Konoha. They could see everything...

...

All she had to do was activate her bloodline and she would be fine.

...

It was darker in here than at home...

...She-she couldn't see her fingers...

...How was she going to activate her bloodline if she couldn't see what seal she was making?!

_H-help..._ she worriedly thought as she quietly reached out and groped around. Maybe she could find the light switch.

She stumbled forward...only to suck in a breath and hurriedly draw her hand back when she realized that her hand had touched something sharp.

Quickly sticking her finger into her mouth, "Mm!" Her eyes widened as a coppery taste quickly assailed her tastebuds. She was bleeding.

Hanabi was worried, but she had to go on. Father would be disappointed if she failed her mission. Her resolve started to firm. It was a small cut. It didn't hurt much.

Hanabi's positive thinking then took a nosedive when she heard a low whistling sound. She couldn't tell if it was her imagination or if she was really hearing it, but the whistling soon started to sound like 'Help...help...'

She shut her eyes. But that didn't help much. The whistling was still there. And now she could hear dull moans as well.

"..."

She soon realized that she was the source of the moans! She quickly shut her mouth and the moaning disappeared. But the whistling continued, and it seemed to be growing louder.

She wasn't frightened. It couldn't be a ghost. Ghosts didn't exist, right?

By now, her eyes had become used to the darkness, but everything was cloaked in shadows and loomed menacingly over her. They seemed to be waiting for her to drop her guard. She turned and caught sight of a sliver of light. Was that the exit? She hastily crept forward, not caring about being noticed...

In her hurry, she failed to notice when her foot caught on something. There was a loud crash as she toppled forward and fell into a large pile of hard objects.

And then something cold and bony landed on her shoulder.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Several moments passed...

And then a loud clattering echoed through the garage.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

...followed by a terrified scream.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The lights in the garage came on again.

"Who's there?!" Naruto demanded as he glanced wildly around the room for the intruder. He held a large training sword in both hands.

There was no reply, but there seemed to be a lot of whimpering from the back of the garage.

Naruto bravely stepped in while Skuld timidly appeared in the doorway with her trusty debugging hammer in hand. There was a frightened look on her face as she glanced around for the source of the noise.

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" Naruto shouted from behind the cart. Skuld moved over and peeked around the back of their cart. Naruto was interrogating a small girl. A Hyuuga based on her white eyes. Wait, wasn't that the girl that she had met earlier?

The unknown girl suddenly pointed at them. "Ghosts!" she shrieked.

"Ghosts?" Skuld and Naruto both asked in confusion.

Naruto took a step forward.

"Don't come any closer!" she shouted as she hurriedly tried to back away only to stop as her back thumped against the wall. Something fell off of the wall and the girl barely managed to scramble of the way in time.

By this time, Naruto was standing right next to the girl as he had been intending to catch the falling rake before it fell on her. He was quite surprised when she had dodged it.

He was doubly surprised, and in pain, when she kicked him ran off to another corner of the garage.

"H-hey!" Naruto wheezed as he weakly fell to the floor.

"We are not ghosts," Skuld finally said.  
("That was cheap," Naruto mumbled in the background, but no one was listening.)

"Prove it!" the girl shouted as she hid behind their cart.

How would Belldandy put this...ah! "A ghost is just the lingering will itself, projected into our psyches."

"What's that supposed to mean, Skuld-chan?" Naruto demanded. He was standing up...it looked like he had recovered.

Skuld hmmphed and crossed her arms as she prepared to dumb down something that should be exceedingly obvious to everyone. "To see if we were ghosts, use a mirror. If we don't appear, we're ghosts."

"A mirror?" Naruto looked around for a moment before his eyes fell on a polished metal panel. He grinned.

With a grunt and a bit of effort, he succeeded in propping it up against the wall. "Here look." he said as he walked in front. His reflection faithfully appeared on the metal surface. "Wooh, I look good," he laughed as he playfully posed in front of the mirror.

"See, we're not ghosts." Skuld said as Hanabi nervously stepped forward and examined the mirror. Right before Hanabi could turn around and nod, she noticed movement from within the glass.

A head popped out. "I'm sorry for intruding." Belldandy said as she seemed to float out of the makeshift mirror.

∗ Thud... ∗

"..." everyone paused and turned to look at the source of the noise.

Hanabi was sprawled on the floor, unconcious. A large bump was developing on her forehead.

"Oh my!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Belldandy looked a bit upset as she quickly hurried over to the small girl. "I'm sorry that your friend was hurt. I had not known that you had visitors attending today." She gently touched the rapidly growing bump and muttered a gentle prayer. Soon, a gentle white glow formed beneath her hand.

"It's okay Bell-chan, we don't know who she-ow! What was that for Skuld-chan?!"

"You will treat my sister with the utmost respect," Skuld ordered before she turned to her sister and spoke in a quiet respectful voice, "Belldandy?"

"You shouldn't treat Naruto-kun so harshly," Belldandy clucked as she examined the rapidly growing bump on Naruto's head.

An outraged look appeared on Skuld's face when Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. He suddenly yelped.

"I'm sorry!" Belldandy gasped as she quickly pulled her hand away as if she had just burnt her finger. "I didn't mean to..." she sadly said.

"It's okay, it's okay! I'm fine! See!" Naruto shouted as he jumped away from the couch and entered his strong man pose.

"You're okay then!" Belldandy happily exclaimed as she clapped her hands together.

Naruto nodded vigorously, although tears were streaming down his face.

Skuld buried her face behind her hands as she struggled not to laugh out loud. Belldandy did that on purpose.

-o-o-o-o-

"Bell-cha-!" Naruto ducked and the pillow passed harmlessly over him. "I mean, Belldandy-san! I have something to show you!" Naruto said with a gigantic smile on his face.

Belldandy looked interested. "Would it perhaps involve a new invention?"

Naruto's mouth flapped open and closed several times before he put his hand behind his head. "Hahaha, as expected of Belldandy-san."

Belldandy gracefully accepted the compliment before her good cheer dimmed a little. "I would love to see it, but I'm afraid that I cannot stay long this time. "

Naruto seemed to lose some of his energy.

Belldandy brightened. "But you can show me now, and explain how it works later, correct?"

"Yeah!" Naruto looked like he wanted to say more, but he was shoved aside.

"Belldandy, where's the old hag?"

Belldandy had a slightly disapproving look. "It's not nice to speak that way behind your sister's back Skuld," she chided lightly before she looked down at the ground. "I'm afraid she will not be able to come today."

Skuld immediately picked up on the hidden message. Something was happening in Asgard and Urd had chosen to remain behind to watch.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi slowly woke up and an ice pack slid off her forehead. She looked around for a moment before she brought her hand before her. A small bandage was wrapped around her finger.

She could tell that her sister hadn't treated her because it wasn't wrapped very tightly, she could still wiggle her finger a little. She decided that she liked this better, because it didn't feel like the blood was building up on one side of the bandage while the other side was growing numb.

Hanabi gasped and turned around when someone made a sound to her left.

Skuld was picking up the ice pack when she heard the gasp. She looked up. "Are you okay? Running into the wall must have been painful." She extended a finger and reached forward. "Luckily, you did not receive a concussion. Here, hold still."

Hanabi stared worriedly at the incoming finger. And then she winced when pain blossomed from her forehead.

Skuld frowned. "Lay down for a little longer." she said as she gently pushed down on the girl's shoulders. Hanabi had no choice but to obey.

"Here." Skuld said as she pulled a soft blanket up and placed the ice pack back on the smaller girl's forehead. "Comfy?"

"Yes. Thank you." Hanabi quietly said.

Before Skuld could reply, a call came from the kitchen. "Tea is ready!" Skuld immediately swung around. As expected, Naruto was standing behind her, a serious expression on his face. She held up a fist. Naruto nodded and mirrored her gesture with a fist of her own.

"I won't lose" Naruto declared. Skuld remained quiet, shaking her fist slightly to know that she was ready.

"First is rock, Jan. ken. PON!" Their fists thrust out.

"Rock!"  
"Scissors!"

Naruto fell back as if he had been shot. He grabbed his head in a dramatic fashion. "Argh! How come you always win Skuld-chan?!"

"Do I?" Skuld asked innocently.

"Yes!"

Skuld just smirked before getting up. "Watch over our guest." she ordered before she ran to the kitchen. "Need help Belldandy?" her voice sounded from inside. A happy "yes" and "thank you" answered her.

Naruto huffed loudly. "Hey hey, what's your name anyway?" he asked as he turned to the one that was staring intently at him. While he didn't mind the attention, the fact that she wasn't blinking seemed sort of creepy.

Hanabi blinked and quietly mumbled something before she rolled over so that she was facing the other direction.

Naruto leaned back after a moment, confident that he had heard correctly. "Hey guys! Her name is Nabi!"

Hanabi rolled over so that she was facing the blond boy again. While she appeared calm, there was a hint of annoyance in her eyes.

The activity in the kitchen quieted for a moment.

"Are you sure, Naruto?" Skuld asked, peeking out.

"Yep!"

"Pleased to meet you Nabi-chan," Belldandy gently said with a slight bow, being careful not to perturb the tray that she was holding. A pair of steaming cups rested atop the polished wood.

"Yes. Nice to meet you Nabi-chan." Skuld said in a friendly manner as she followed Belldandy out while holding a second tray containing another pair of steaming tea cups.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi stared at the teacup that was sitting in front of her. It was of a simple design, but the detailed flower petals painted on the porcelain made it a very elegant-looking teacup.

"Please drink. A good tea will help you feel better," There seemed to be a guilty tone in Belldandy's voice.

Hanabi didn't want to, but it would be rude if she didn't. Removing the ice pack, she slowly pulled herself up and reached out. Slowly raising the elegant cup to her lips, she took a sip.

She winced. "Hot."

Belldandy gasped. "Oh dear, I'm sorry. I had forgotten." she worriedly said as she stood up.

"Stop making Belldandy feel bad," Naruto growled.

Hanabi shrunk into herself, she was feeling slightly bad for upsetting her host, but she couldn't help but feel a spot of irritation at the blond boy. It wasn't her fault.

Belldandy returned a moment later with a few ice cubes in her hand.

After another sip, Hanabi paused.

Would you like some sugar?

"No, this is fine Belldandy-san," Hanabi reassured her host before she paused in thought. "The rich aroma of the black tea mixes pleasantly with the milk. Delicious..." she whispered before taking another sip.

"That's so grown up Nabi-chan," Belldandy gushed.

Hanabi blinked before she blushed and looked away. "Father thinks that I should know teas."

Skuld and Naruto stared at the girl for a moment before they take their own sips.

- Slrp -

"It's milk and tea right? What's the difference?" Naruto whispered to Skuld, not wanting to be shown up by a kid but failing to see anything special.

"..." Skuld remained quiet. Not wanting to give away that she couldn't tell either.

"Strangely, this does not taste like any tea that I have sampled from Tea country," Hanabi marvelled.

"Assam tea. I'm afraid that you won't find this tea anywhere around here," Belldandy said in a somewhat sad tone of voice before she smiled. "If you wish, I can give you a pouch to take home."

For a moment, Hanabi looked like she was going to accept, and then her eyes lowered. "Father would not approve."

"I insist, it's so refreshing to find a fellow tea drinker. And at such a young age too."

Hanabi looked like she wanted to say something when, "More tea please!" Skuld and Naruto both interrupted.

"May I have some as well?" Hanabi timidly ventured.

"Yes, of course." Belldandy happily said, unaware of the growing tension in the room. She was about to refill the cups when she paused and pulled off the lid. "Ara? I'm sorry, I believe I need to refill the tea kettle. Please excuse me."

Naruto and Skuld immediately turned and glared at each other before their hands shot out.

"Paper."  
"Rock."

"Two out of three!" Naruto demanded.

Skuld immediately nodded, not even taking a moment to think about it. After all, the thought of losing had never occurred to her.

"I'm going to win this time."  
"No you won't."

"Just watch me! Rock...Paper…Scissor..." Naruto shouted, shaking his fist the entire time. "…shoot!"

"Rock."

"...Paper."

"Hey! That doesn't count! You didn't even move your hand from the last game!" Naruto shouted.

"Why did you still pick rock?" Skuld shot back.

Naruto's jaw slackened and all of his bluster disappeared in an instant as his arm fell limply to his side. "Chikuso."

Skuld quickly stood up, shoving a crying Naruto aside. "Can I help oneechan?"

"Of course Skuld-chan." Belldandy said, pressing her skirt down as she stood up.

The instant Belldandy and Skuld disappeared, the tears disappeared as Naruto glared at Hanabi, as if blaming her for his loss. The younger girl averted her eyes before raising her teacup. Slrrp.

"Mr. Naruto! Good Afternoon!" Miya greeted happily as she swept into the room. She paused and picked up Naruto's half-full tea cup and sniffing it for a moment before making a face and setting it back down.

"Awake finally, Miya-chan?"

"Yup!" Miya cheered before she paused and blinked curiously at the other inhabitant in the room.

"Who are you?" the curious girl asked.

Hanabi paused midsip and raised her eyes to look at the girl. She mumbled something before she lowered her head to hide her face.

"...?" Miya paused a moment before her face lit up. "How are you, Wabi?" she cheerfully asked.

The Hyuuga girl's eyes snapped up and a frown formed on her face. After glaring piercingly at the pink-haired girl, she turned away.

"..."

Miya had seen the glare and was confused by it. She leaned into Hanabi's line of sight.

Hanabi turned to look in another direction.

"Did I do something wrong?" the pink haired girl turned to ask Naruto.

"Ah, her name is Nabi, Miya." Naruto quickly said.

Miya gasped and large tears filled her eyes. "I'm really sorry Nabi! I didn't mean to mispronounce your name."

Hanabi continued to give the pink-haired girl the cold shoulder.

Miya turned back to Naruto. "Mr. Naruto, she's really mad at me!" she whined.

Naruto stood up. "Oi...what's with that high and mighty attitude? She apologized didn't she?"

Hanabi's eyes narrowed even further as she turned to look at the plain wall behind her.

"Mr. Naruto..." Miya quietly said.

"It's rude to ignore people, Nabi-chan."

_Nabi-chan?! He had no right! _Hanabi calmly turned to Naruto. "Shut up. Stupid."

∗Sniff∗

Naruto turned to the pink-haired girl. "Miya..." There was a 'oh no' expression on his face.

"Waah!" Two fountains of tears poured from Miya's eyes as she turned around and ran off.

"Miya! Wait! She wasn't talking to you!" Naruto shouted as he dropped his teacup and tried to run after her.

There was a thud as he bumped the table, hard. The unsteady teacup rattled for a moment before it fell over, spilling the rest of its contents past its containing saucer and onto the table.

Naruto stared at the spilled tea for a moment before he used his sleeve to wipe up the mess.

"Miya!" he shouted when he was done. He quickly took off in the direction that Miya had disappeared.

Belldandy peeked out of the kitchen. "Is everything alright? I heard yelling." She blinked. "Where did Naruto-kun go?"

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Pick one already." Naruto shouted impatiently as he held his cards in front of him in a fan.

Hanabi's eyes narrowed slightly as she deliberately slowed her movement. She continued to carefully considered the cards in front of her. The look that she was giving Naruto could have frozen ICE.

Sitting between the two, Miya, Skuld, and Belldandy sweatdropped at the electricity that was dancing in the air. They shrunk back slightly, trying to make themselves insignificant so that they wouldn't be involved in the ensuing battle.

One two...Naruto suddenly grinned when Hanabi's hand came down to rest on the third card in his hand. She noticed and immediately moved two cards over. She took that card.

And Naruto's grin turned into a full-blown smirk. He immediately folded his cards together so that his opponent couldn't shove the card back.

Hanabi frowned at the old maid that she had just drawn. Again! She calmly placed it into her hand before...

"Hey!" Naruto shouted as he hastily covered his face as a flurry of cards flew at him.

Hanabi pulled her empty hand back and glared up at the clock.

"Is something wrong Nabi-chan?" Skuld asked as Belldandy and Miya helped Naruto clean up the mess. "You have been looking at the clock rather frequently."

"...I need to return home soon."

"Oh."

"May I ask if..."

Skuld seemed to read Hanabi's mind. "Naruto. Go with her. This isn't a safe neighborhood."

"What?! Why me?"

"Belldandy needs to leave soon and I need to talk with her. I'll catch up with you."

"No!" Hanabi quickly said.

Everyone looked at the the small girl.

"Naruto-san should be enough. Konoha is safe."

Skuld warily shrugged. Naruto often got into trouble if he was spotted outside. But maybe if a Hyuuga accompanied him, "Okay then. I'll have a cup of hot cocoa ready when you return."

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered.

Miya leaned forward. "Can I go?"

"Can she?" Naruto asked.

Hanabi looked at the pink-haired girl before she shrugged. She had no problems with this one coming along.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The sound of their feet scraping pavement was drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the afternoon crowd.

It was quiet for the most part. Hanabi had the lead while Naruto and Miya followed behind her. More like Naruto followed while Miya stood unsteadily

"Ne. Do you think you can hurry it up?" Naruto finally asked in an impatient tone of voice as he half-supported and half-dragged a sleepy catgirl.

"..." Hanabi continued to ignore him.

"Oh come on! I thought you were late!" Naruto vented.

Hanabi turned to gaze boredly at Naruto for a moment before she started deliberately taking half steps, slowing her walk to a crawl.

"Dammit!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Belldandy knocked on the doorframe.

"Come in!" Skuld called out before she turned to the open door. "You didn't have to knock Belldandy." she said as she continued sorting the new items that Belldandy had brought for her. "Any news from heaven?" She paused, "Wow! Mithril!" she cheered as she pulled a small bluish-silver metal plate out of the pouch.

"Urd is following up on the specifics at this moment."

"She found something?"

"Yes. A recent request that nullifies wishes granted to ninja has been approved. Loki is the one who proposed and pushed this forward.

"Since Naruto isn't a ninja, this isn't going to help me. Maybe after he graduates..." Skuld mused before she blinked. "Wait, did you say Loki?

Belldandy nodded.

Skuld sat back with a serious expression on her face. "Nothing against him, but it is strange that Loki would propose a law, much less one that made sense. And he does have a strange fascination for the tailed guardians of the ninja countries."

For some reason, Loki exhibited an unhealthy fascination for the tailed guardians of the ninja country. Many have speculated that he was responsible for their rampage in the first place, but no one could find any proof.

"Skuld..."

The younger girl paused in her speculation to look up.

"...you should have accompanied Naruto-kun..." Belldandy said in a quiet voice.

"...?" Skuld stopped. "Can't he take care of himself?" She cautiously asked.

"Normally, yes. Hanabi, however, is not a normal Hyuuga child. She is the Hyuuga head's daughter."

"Hanabi?"

"Naruto had misheard Hyuuga-san when she gave him her name." Belldandy clarified.

"!" Skuld's head flew up as the implications hit her.

"Naruto!" she shouted as she pushed Belldandy's pouch off of her lap and scrambled to her feet.  
("Naruto might be in trouble," Belldandy said at the same time.)

Skuld's hasty ascension left her off-balance. The instant she was on her feet, she was falling forward into a large pile of parts. Ignoring the pain, she nimbly rolled forward and onto her feet. "Banpei II-san!" she called out as she ran to her bed.

Belldandy watched her sister run around the room and pick up several items before dashing out. "Take care little sister" she said with a smile as she walked up to a mirror in Skuld's room, confident that Naruto would be alright now.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Mr. Naruto?"

"What's up Miya-chan?"

"Where are we going?"

"We're headed for the Hyuuga mansion!" He looked around. "I think."

"?"

"Hey, where are we anyway?"

Hanabi suddenly ran off.

"Hey, wait!" Naruto shouted as he ran after her.

"Mr. Naruto!" Miya shouted before she let out a loud yelp as she tripped and flew forward...plowing facefirst into the dirt. Several shadows suddenly shot past her.

Naruto paused when several nin suddenly appeared in front of him. "Wait Nabi, it's a trap!" he shouted, trying to find a way through and protect her. He never had time to formulate a plan.

"I got him!" Someone shouted before Naruto found himself being tackled from behind.

"Good job. The heiress is safe."

"Heiress?! Wait, what's going on?!

Naruto felt a strong blow to his jaw before his world went black.

"Quiet, you."

"Let's get Hanabi-sama safely back to the mansion." The leader shouted, and the others nodded before they surrounded the small girl. Hanabi slowly headed in the direction of the mansion, her escort maintaining a constant distance from her.

"Mr. Naruto!" Miya shouted in dismay as she struggled to her feet, only to let out a cry as she was shoved backwards. Before she could get up, she was struck upon the head.

Stars filled her vision and the only witness to the scene, collapsed.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Mr. Naruto! Miya shouted as she looked under a basket "Where are you?!" Not finding anyone, she threw the basket away, knocking a wind chime off of its hook.

It fell and crashed onto the large bump that was already on her head. "Ow!!" the catgirl cried as she grabbed her head.

"Hey! Get away you brat!" The stand owner angrily shouted as he raised a ruler.

"Ee!" Miya screeched and backpedaled into the crowd.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Mr. Naruto!" Miya shouted as she lifted a cloth. She saw a pair of legs, but no Naruto.

There was a shout of 'pervert!'

Miya barely dodged the incoming attack. Bowing and apologizing, Miya lost her balance and fell backwards onto the ground. A giant tongue suddenly licked her in the face. For a moment there, Miya thought her mother was cleaning her...until she opened her eyes.

"Inu!!" she cried as she struggled to put as much distance between her and the dog. It barked excitedly and strained against its leash.

Miya finally stopped running. She found herself in an area with few people.

"Miya! Wait!" Skuld shouted as she broke free of the crowd and caught up.

"Miss Skuld!" Miya shouted happily, completely forgetting about Naruto.

Skuld was just as happy to see Miya until she looked around. "Miya, have you seen Naruto?

And then she remembered again. Tears filled the catgirls eyes. "Waaaaah!"

"Miya! It's okay. Calm down!"

"Waaaah."

Skuld stared at the scene for a moment before she sighed. "Banpei II-san."

The small robot ran forward.

"Make sure that Miya returns home safely."

She smiled when her robot gave her a salute.

Banpei II-san started shoving the pink-haired girl along. An odd sight considering how short the robot was.

While this was happening, Skuld was struggling to figure out what had happened to Miya and Naruto. The two had separated somehow. Skuld would have believed that Miya had been distracted for a brief moment, long enough for Naruto to disappear.

Except Naruto had made it a personal mission to watch Miya carefully after the first time she had disappeared on them a few months back.

The giant bump on Miya's head suggested that the catgirl had been knocked unconscious and left behind.

Time was running out. Who was responsible? Where did they take Naruto?

Skuld recalled Belldandy's warning...

_ Hanabi, however, is not a normal Hyuuga child. She is the Hyuuga head's daughter._

She turned and ran toward the Hyuuga mansion.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto slowly awoke right outside of the Hyuuga compound. Where was he? What was going on? Who was dragging him? He barely bit back a curse when a particularly large rock passed under him.

When they finally stopped, the first thought that ran through his mind was, 'why is the Hyuuga Head holding Nabi's hand?'

And then he realized that Nabi didn't have a seal on her forehead. A horrible sinking feeling filled his gut.

"Release him," Hiashi sternly said.

Naruto let out a grunt as he landed roughly before he raised his head and glared up at the Hyuuga head.

"Get up." the man said in a cold voice, matching Naruto's fiery defiance with a frigid, uncaring attitude.

Naruto reluctantly did so, but he made it look like it was his choice all along.

Hiashi waited until Naruto was fully upright before he began. "I apologize on my daughter's behalf."

There was a gasp from the girl standing right next to him.

Of all the things that Naruto had expected, this wasn't it.

"I assure you that she be sufficiently punished for her actions unbecoming a Hyuuga."

There was a small sniffle. Hiashi frowned down at the culprit and gave her a firm shake. There was another gasp before the tears were forcefully stopped.

Naruto was confused. "Wait a minute, what's going on."

"This matter does not concern you anymore. You have received your apology. Please leave." Hiashi coolly replied.

"What the hell am I doing here if it doesn't concern me?! If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to ask her."

"You are making a scene, boy."

"You think I care you stuck up bastard," Naruto heatedly shot back.

"I could have you killed for your disrespect."

Naruto snorted. "You're going to kill me just 'cause I'm asking what's going on?!"

Hiashi coolly regarded the impudent youngster standing before him. He finally pulled from his kimono a small card. "Do you recognize this?"

Naruto took it and examined the front and back before he quickly read what was inside.

_Your daughter is ours. Bring a million ryo to the North Gate at 5 in the afternoon if you wish to see her again._

"Yes," he immediately replied.

Two people stopped and blinked. Had they heard correctly?

"You would lie for my daughter?" Hiashi coolly asked.

"I'm not lying!" Naruto protested loudly.

Hiashi glanced around before he sighed. "Let us take this discussion inside then."

Hanabi docilely followed her father as he made his way toward the mansion.

A horrible feeling welled up in Naruto's gut as he followed after the two.

-o-o-o-o-

"I will only ask you once. Why did you kidnap my daughter?" Hiashi began once all three were seated comfortably in a small private room in the mansion.

"A million ryo," Naruto lazily replied.

"You, of all people, should know that the Hyuuga Clan does not possess such an amount in funds," Hiashi sternly rebuked.

"Yes you do. You just have it hidden underground."

"How do you know this?" Hiashi demanded.

Naruto sat up. "You mean it's really there?!"

"No."

"What?!" Naruto asked in an outraged tone of voice.

"You are correct, however. The Hyuuga Clan has sequestered away significant funds for emergencies."

"..."

Naruto leapt to his feet...

...Hanabi let out a shout as she was forcefully grabbed from behind. "Give me the money and let me go." He shouted, trying to hold Hanabi still as she struggled to break free.

"...I see."

"Wait, you aren't going to save your daughter?" Naruto asked as he paused in his slow retreat.

"Now that you have established that you are responsible for the kidnapping attempt, are you willing to face the consequences."

"Consequences?"

∗Thud∗

Naruto slowly and painfully picked himself up off of the floor. There was a large dent in the wall behind him. "What..." he gasped out. He never even saw the other man move.

"As you must know, the price for attempting to kidnap a member of the Hyuuga clan is... death." He directed a look to his daughter, telling her to stand behind him. She obediently did so.

Veins suddenly formed around his eyes as he activated his bloodline limit.

"Urgh!" Naruto grunted as he struggled to get out of there.

"Is there anything you wish to add before I send you to the next life?"

Naruto fell to his knees, the pain temporarily overwhelming his senses. "Yes, I tricked Skuld-chan..." the rest was too low to hear. He slowly stood up, taking advantage of the spare time to collect whatever energy he had. "Skuld-chan was not part of this kidnapping plot, so leave her out of this!" he shouted defiantly before he coughed painfully several times.

"Anything else?"

"Tell Skuld-chan...sorry," he gasped out. "I couldn't...get the money."

"Very well. Is that all?"

"No," Naruto said as he steeled himself. All he needed was one good hit, then he could escape.

"What else do..."

Before Hiashi could finished, Naruto was rushing forward with a roar.

The taller man took a step forward to intercept and Naruto immediately ripped something from his pocket as he dived, aiming for the legs.

"Father!" Hanabi shouted.

Hiashi easily moved aside before the rope could immobilize him. Reaching down, he seized the back of the boy's jumpsuit.

Naruto let out a yell as he was thrown upwards.

Hiashi waited for the boy to drop to the right height before he lashed forward with his other palm; striking right at the heart. His victim shot off like a bullet.

∗Crash∗

The blond hair boy had collided hard with the wall, cracking it as he bounced bonelessly off of it. He fell ungracefully to the floor where he remained still. Unmoving. His escape attempt had failed.

"Is there something that you wish to add daughter before we begin with the training that you missed today?" Hiashi asked as he deactivated his bloodline and turned to the shorter girl.

"...may he rest in peace," the girl said as she bowed her head in respect.

"That's so cruel," came a quiet voice. It originated from the body that was lying amidst the remains of the wall.

Hanabi immediately started wailing in terror at the vengeful ghost that had returned to haunt her for the rest of her life.

When the body started to push itself off of the ground, Hanabi screamed even louder and clutched her father's leg for support. Unlike a ghost, a zombie had a body. Instead of being haunted, she could be killed! And then the zombie would raise her from the dead and the two would haunt that creepy old mansion next door devouring the brains of children foolish enough to enter.

And then Naruto painfully raised his head. Hanabi immediately stopped screaming when she saw his sky-blue eyes. They danced with life...he wasn't dead!

"I suppose that you are wondering why you are still alive," Hiashi stiffly said as he stared sternly down at his daughter, unamused by her antics. He turned his gaze to the injured boy.

At Naruto's confused look, Hiashi continued, "First I must stress that kidnappers of the Hyuuga Clan are often executed on the spot." He said this with a menacing tone and a quiet glare.

Naruto involuntarily swallowed..

"However, your courage is commendable. In addition, seeing how my daughter has returned without harm, I have decided that a strong painful blow should be incentive enough to prevent you from kidnapping her again. I won't be so kind the next time you attempt such a foolhardy action," Hiashi drew a deep breath. "Please leave." he said before he glared down at his daughter.

Hanabi silently retreated. She had been scared.

Naruto coughed several times and blood flew from his lips. He painfully staggered to his feet. Instead of leaving however, he remained in his spot.

"That was not a request, boy."

"It's not her fault," Naruto defiantly said.

"My patience grows thin. Leave before I ensure that you never see another sunrise."

Naruto's knees started to shake as dizziness started to overwhelm his senses, but he refused to back down. After all, Skuld-chan would have done the same thing.

"You would tempt fate?"

Naruto wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand before he glared back up at the stuck-up bastard. "Yes."

The silent battle of wills continued for a moment longer before one of them finally decided that enough time had been wasted.

"The time for such matters has already passed." Hiashi finally said. "I wish to cover the training that my daughter has missed today. Do you understand?" he coldly asked.

Naruto nodded before he grinned. He then turned around and slowly staggered toward the exit.

Hanabi's eyes widened in surprise when she realized that the grin that was directed at her. A smile soon graced her face as she watched him leave.

When her father turned to her, there was a look of determination on her face as she stood in a defensive stance. "I'm ready, father."

-o-o-o-o-o-

She saw him. "Naruto!"

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto wearily cried, "You won't believe what happened." He gave a nod and the guard that was escorting him headed back to the compound to return to her post.

Skuld grabbed him in a friendly hug and laughed. "You're alive! You're alright!"

"Of course I am." Naruto said with a pained smile. His brave look slowly morphed to one of confusion. "Was Skuld-chan worried?"

Skuld pushed herself away to examine Naruto. While battered, none of his injuries were fatal; she could treat most of them easily. His guardian would take care of the rest.

So she hadn't been needed after all. "Even the gods couldn't predict what would happen."

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" she said with a smile, as she pulled his arm over her shoulder to support him. "Let's go home."

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Omake! Ichi!

The front door open and Naruto pulled a small girl inside. The two were holding all sorts of festival items.

"Can I go home now?" Hanabi asked as she blearily rubbed at her eyes. He had barged into her room in the middle of the night and pulled her out of bed just so he could show her something.

The festival was fun, but she was exhausted now.

"Not yet Nabi-chan. Now that you've had your fun, I'm going to teach you something. If you're going to forge my handwriting, you had better make sure you do a good job of it. Now, I write messily in everyday life, so if I was going to kidnap you, it'd better be in good handwriting.

"..." Hanabi mumbled something.

Of course Naruto didn't hear her. "What was that?" he asked, wanting her to repeat what she had just said.

"Why?"

Naruto leaned back with a silly grin. "So no one would know it was me."

"But I wrote in my best handwriting last time."

"Yeah, good job about that. Better than I could do. But now I'm going to teach you my normal handwriting." he said with a dashing grin, emphasizing the word 'normal.'

Hanabi was confused. That didn't make sense.

- Meanwhile, at the Hyuuga mansion -

Hiashi stared at the letter sitting innocently on Hanabi's desk. After looking around, he concluded that she wasn't in the room. He picked up the card and stared at the neat handwriting. "Hanabi..."

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Omake! Ni!

Why am I in this story anyway? Hanabi asked as she looked over the single fan letter.

"Could someone possibly be thinking about when two...I don't know, BRATS...meet the results would be catastrophic?" Skuld replied through gnashing teeth.

"Brats? Us?" Hanabi asked, confused.

"Exactly!" Skuld proclaimed as she hefted her bug-squashing hammer. "Let's have a word with this special someone shall we?"

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Omake! San!

Boom!

Genma took another swig of sake. He had passed them because they had held such promise. But he was beginning to rethink his decision.

Who fell for the exploding coins trick these days? They even had Naruto's face etched on the front giving the holder a red eye. On the back...well...

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Omake! Yon!

"It's Hanabi."

Naruto looked at the girl in confusion. "Huh?"

"My name is Hanabi," she repeated.

"Oh." Naruto said with an Ah ha look. "Okay. I gotcha."

Several moments later, Naruto was staring at a vending machine.

"Nabi-chan, can I borrow a few ryo? I'll pay you back."

Hanabi let out a loud hissing sigh.

"What?" Naruto asked as he turned to her. "Hey. What's with that look?"

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**Chapter Preview!**

"This is all your fault!" Skuld coolly said.

"Okay okay. Even though it wasn't my fault, but yours, I'll drop it." Naruto irritatedly snapped back before he turned around. He perked up. "Hey look, a native! Let's ask where we are."

There was something just plain stupid about asking another about which dimension that they were in, but Skuld couldn't quite put a finger on what.

He walked up to the stranger.

"Hey! You look like me!" They both shrieked.

Some time later, the three were seated inside of a small apartment.

Naruto suddenly slapped his fist into his palm. "Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Where are we?"

"My apartment," the other Naruto answered with a confused expression.

Skuld brightened. That's right! Only gods and goddesses knew enough about dimensions to tell another which dimension they were in.

**Next Chapter: **___**The Boy, the Girl, the Cupboard.**_

**Jya'n**

__

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End Chapter 4

-o-o-o-o-o-

Extra's Corner

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Maelstrom Ninja Goods  
Naruto and Skuld's Business

Naruto: "Come on in, we have lots to see!"  
Skuld: "Everything's working fine already! Can I go yet? If you have any questions, just ask Naruto."

- Involved in the production and sales of small nonlethal ninja goods  
- The best thing about their products is that it's predictable. While this can be a problem occasionally, one wishes to have predictability in a fight. Throwing duds at an opponent is a one way ticket to an unpredictable outcome.  
- Delivery of goods is primarily done by loading a cart that they own then transporting it to their buyer.

Popular Products:

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Smoke Bombs

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- The business's best product  
- Despite their extremely low cost, the Hyuuga buy them constantly because they are so much better than their competitors. Very reliable.  
- Explode everytime. No duds, isn't technology great?  
- Create large even clouds of smoke everytime.  
- Explode at the right time everytime.  
- Smaller and lighter than their competition. The Hyuuga can carry about 25 percent more of them on a mission.

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High-Grade Moderate Yield Concussion Notes

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- Exclusive supplier of these notes. For some odd reason, many nin have tried and failed to crack the design.  
- Moderate Yield is the highest level that could be legally sold.  
- The Third is given a small supply of extremely high yield to distribute as he wishes but that's not important.  
- Moderate yield is powerful enough to stun a nin from up to 10 meters.  
- At the right distance, it's also possible for a note to knock over a nin. At least 7 meters away and up to 9 meters away.

- Moderate yield does not have enough power to deafen a person. Need high yield for that.

- Moderate yield does not have enough power to throw a person. Need extremely high yield for that.  
- Its weakness is the point of explosion. The flash still works, but if a note explodes with the enemy in the point of explosion, there won't be a stunning effect. This is why the note isn't very widely used.

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Skuld's Technology

Naruto: "Hang on, I'm a bit busy right now. So you want a case of smoke bombs? Will that be in cash or credit?"

Miya: Nya?

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Maelstrom Ninja Goods's Cart

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This probably shouldn't even count as one of Skuld's inventions since Skuld only made the wheels.

History: Naruto had found this contraption in a junkyard and thought it would be useful for their business so he had it brought home the next day by a genin team.

- Plenty of room in back.  
- At the front of the cart is a bench for two.

- The cart rested on two air filled tires, thicker than bike tires and far more sturdy and made the ride much less bumpy.

"I would like some sort of technology on this thing," Skuld had said before she helped him pull off the wooden wheels so that she could replace them.

- Later, a simple motor was added that made it easy for Naruto to pull the cart himself. Skuld called it the mule motor. Unfortunately, she also decided to add an AI to the motor. When the AI is happy, it's a breeze to move any sized load. However, naming the AI Mule is a one way ticket to a headache. Naruto soon saw new meaning in the phrase 'stubborn as a mule.'

- Two long poles, tapered at the end and spaced about an oxen width apart completed the design.  
- Approximately 4 meters long, 2 meters wide, 2 meters tall.

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Machine in Basement

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Synthesizes small items from a bunch of raw materials.  
- Builds them from the ground up.  
- Looks like a hippo. "What's a hippo, Skuld-chan?"  
- Produces about 3 items per minute. Plus or minus 2 items. It depends on the complexity of the item and the material available.  
- Minimum production speed is 1 item per minute with complexity up to a Kunai.  
- Can produce far more complicated microchips or soda cans, but production time jumps. It took a week for Skuld to create a microchip with this machine. The next time she needed a microchip of the same type, she worked overnight and it was ready in the morning.

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Naruto's Inventions  
Skuld: "They're not as good as mine, obviously."  
Miya: "They're scary. They make lots of noise."

- None in this Chapter -

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Miya's Inventions  
Skuld: "..."  
Naruto: "...That's just...wow..."

- None in this Chapter -

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New Character!

Hanabi Hyuuga  
Hanabi is Hinata's younger sister, and quite different personality-wise. She's 4 and a half years younger than Naruto.  
- Member of the Main family. Possible Heir  
- Age: 7  
- Birthdate: March 27  
- Blood Type: A  
- Known Immediate Family: Hiashi Hyuuga (Father), Hinata Hyuuga (Sister)

Traits:  
- Polite  
- Shy (Not as much as Hinata)  
- Proud  
- Holds her father in high esteem  
- Intelligent (Not a Genius. However, the Hyuuga's wealth gives her access to the best. In addition, a desire to please her father drives her to learn.)  
- Rich  
- Lives in the present  
- Generally calm, but there are moments when she displays a burst of emotion.  
- Socially weak

- Selfish  
- naïve

Notes:  
- Hanabi is Hanabi. She's not an ice-queen, nor is she a spoiled brat. Someone on a forum thought that she was polite and shy (not as much as Hinata) when they played Narutimate Hero 3. I know I did a good job of portraying that.  
- Hanabi usually isn't stubborn. There is one thing where she will stick her foot down though...  
- Hanabi's schemes are pretty complicated. Too complicated actually, and they end up failing because something unexpected always happens.

-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Skuld cannot knowingly lie. She can, however, hide the truth.

A/N: There's quite a bit of Chiaki from Minami-ke in Hanabi's personality.


	6. Ch5: The Boy, The Girl, The Cupboard

_With a goddess in your life, anything can happen!_

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A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

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Okay! Lemme tell you a quick story before we get to the feature presentation.

It all started in a forest out in the middle of nowhere. There I was, crawling along in heavy platemail. I was dying of hunger and thirst and struggling to crawl out of there when I saw it...

A large yellow parchment swaying lazily in an Indian Summer Breeze.

I approached the dying palm that it hung on, and read the faded ink: _Those who can defeat a disclaiming guardian with just a sword and shield shall henceforth be known as the owners of the series tattooed on its side._

**Thump...**

A puddle ripples. Something big cometh.

**thump thump...**

A chill crept up my spine when I heard several trees suddenly fall over. Whatever it was, it was strong.

**thump thump thump thu-**

It was suddenly silent.

Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, the entire earth rippled as something enormous suddenly flattened most of the trees that had been blocking my view.

**Bweee! **It roared in my face.

To which I could only shout in reply, "Oh my god!"

It was a disclaiming pig, and emblazoned 30 feet up, on its side, were the words Naruto and Ah! My Goddess.

"Don't sue me..." I cried as I dropped my sword and ran for it.

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

A/N: This Chapter is going to be a bit more serious than the norm. Umm, I mean, I'm going to treat it like a novel and less like humorous scenes. Trust me, you'll see a difference. But I swear that it will still have its funny moments. Ah! My Goddess and Naruto...both series are full of laughs. Add in my unique blend of humor and we get something better.

A/N – No, I'm not messing up the gender pronouns.

Warning: 36 pages (TNR12) (read responsibly).

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Naruto's friendship with Hanabi has grown since Chapter 4. Today is October 3rd, Naruto's 12th birthday is coming up. Miya, Hanabi, and Skuld are all excited, Miya especially since it's not just Naruto's birthday anymore, it's hers too.

Unfortunately, Skuld had decided to challenge the conventions of science and technology again. And while she refuses to admit it, her inventions tend to be the cause of some of their greatest adventures. Naruto was about two weeks away from becoming a ninja when they were sent on what could be called their greatest adventure yet...

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_Chapter 5: The Boy, the Girl, the Cupboard._

Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Naruto (AU), Hanabi (AU)

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-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Don't Open the Cupboards!_

Naruto stared curiously at the message on the kitchen table for a moment before he craned his head to glance behind him. There, sitting in the trash can was an empty box of cereal.

He slowly turned back towards the table to look at another box of cereal that was sitting quietly next to him. The box tabs were opened but the bag inside was still sealed.

He turned to look at the cupboard from which he had pulled this new box of cereal from a few minutes ago...

"..." The door of the cupboard was emitting a bright purple around the edges. And that bright purple was quickly becoming brighter.

**Thump.** Naruto recoiled in horror as he saw the cupboard visibly jump. **Thump thump.** He suddenly knew that this wasn't a trick of the light when he saw it jump twice more. A bad feeling welled up from within him.

"Skuld-chan..." he quietly called out without taking his eyes off of the possessed object, "...the cupboard's glowing again. I don't think it's the boogeyman this time". He waited for a moment for her reply. When there was none, he quickly looked around before smacking his forehead lightly. Of course there wasn't any. His roommate was still in bed. That meant that the only one available to deal with this...was himself.

He slowly approached the cupboard as the urge to run away, screaming, grew with each step. Right next to the cupboard, Naruto suddenly froze as his body was overcome by large bouts of shaking. It was sheer willpower alone and the knowledge that Skuld's inventions were more loud than painful that allowed him to suppress the violent reactions enough to allow him to reach upwards. With one swift jerk, he threw open the cabinet door.

The purple glow suddenly disappeared, as if it wasn't there to begin with. In it's place was an intense beam of white light that completely covered him. It disappeared soon afterwards, leaving him blinking rapidly as black spots filled his vision.

It took some time for his vision to clear. When it did, Naruto climbed onto the counter to get a better look. So what was the best way that he could describe what was inside the cupboard as he peered inside? There was nothing.

No, it wasn't because there was no cereal or other non-perishable foodstock, those really were gone. But so were the walls, ceiling, and back of the cupboard. All that remained was an inky blackness.

Nothing.

He reached forward.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto opened his eyes and cursed as he struggled to sit up from his prone position. Whatever he had just done was probably the stupidest thing that he had done yet. He paused at that thought. What had he just done? Let's see, first he reached out for the blackness. When his hand pierced the dark haze, he felt a strong pull on his fingers which immediately crawled up to his arms. Startled, he tried to pull his hand out, but the blackness wouldn't let go. Then he felt his feet leave the floor before the back of his head struck something. What happened next? He couldn't recall.

He noticed that he was still lying on the ground. No matter how hard he tried, his body still refused to do more than wiggle. So he decided to lay there for a moment longer, the rough concrete beneath him feeling cool and soothing against his rather sore body. He closed his eyes for a moment.

It was a bad idea to remain in one place for so long.

"Aa-aaah!" Naruto's eyes snapped open when he heard the unknown voice. Just when his vision cleared...

"Ugh," Naruto grunted as he folded over. Something had landed heavily on his gut and knocked the wind right out of him.

"Guh...Naruto...what did you do now?" She asked, wincing from the slight twinge of pain in her back. Slowly sitting up, Skuld pushed herself forward a little so that she was finally sitting on the floor and not on her friend's stomach. There, she soothingly rubbed her backside while, at the same time, turning to the blond boy gasping behind her.

The subject of her scrutiny was unable to reply. He was laid out and twitching fiercely as he valiantly fought to breathe.

His lungs finally opened, and with great gulps of air, Naruto slowly recovered. When he was aware enough to take in his surroundings, he turned his head slightly and quickly found the one responsible for his misfortune several moments ago. She was sleepily looking down at him and swaying slightly. It didn't take a professional to see right away that the adrenaline was fast wearing away and Skuld wasn't going to remain awake much longer.

Moments later, her head began to droop as gravity started to win.

"Gotcha," Naruto softly cheered, having caught her just before her head hit the ground. Gently holding her upright, he slowly sat up and crossed his legs, indian style, before carefully laying her head onto his lap. He glanced around at the surrounding scenery.

Large empty lots surrounded him. The vegetation was sparse, mainly wild grass pushing themselves through the cracks in the concrete. Buildings used to occupy this land, however they had been demolished and cleaned up some time ago. He proudly knew this because last year Skuld-chan had found a larger apartment for them to live in. And just in time too. Any later and their new home would have been rubble like all the other buildings on that block.

Once they moved in, he watched from a window on the third floor as the demolition crew loudly picked apart each of the remaining buildings with tools and jutsus.

Then there was that one moment when one of the genin lost control of his hammer. Naruto barely managed to leap away from the closed window just as the hammer flew in and embedded itself on the opposite wall. Soon after Skuld-chan was outside shouting at them to be more careful.

The workers stopped laughing when Banpei-two feet-san soon ran up to a condemned building and demolished it rather violently within three minutes. 5 times quicker than the workers' best time, and far more messy.

Naruto wasn't mad though, because soon after, the construction workers reinforced his belief that being a ninja was the coolest job in the world. In moments, the mess in his room was gone, the window replaced, and the hammer was back outside. He was standing in the room the whole time and he didn't see anyone enter!

A small voice in his mind suddenly piped up to ask what happened to his manga when he wanted to read a few hours later.

Narrowing his eyes, he promptly squelched it with an imaginary foot before he looked up at a distant street sign.

Then he curiously looked to the right.

Where was their apartment? It should be right here. Right on the lot that he was sitting on.

That was when his face lit up as inspiration struck. It fell soon after when he realized what he was thinking. Great, how was he going to tell Skuld-chan that he accidentally evaporated their apartment again?

At least his old apartment wasn't far from here, they could stay there while Skuld-chan had their apartment rebuilt.

"Skuld-chan," he quietly said, shaking her shoulders slightly.

"Skuld-chan, wake up," he repeated as he gave her another shake.

The girl shook like a limp noodle.

Sighing, he carefully looped her arm around his neck, before picking up his best friend, bridal style. Standing up, he began to walk.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto staggered up the stairs of the apartment until he reached the room on the third floor. His arms burned fiercely from fatigue. His best friend wasn't as light as he would like. However, he desperately prayed to Kami-sama his mouth didn't use this in one of their future arguments. A faint bump on the top of his head whispered to him as he depressedly thought about his mortality. He had received that one when he last used the words "Skuld", and "pig" together in the same sentence. It wouldn't have been so bad...he thought...if Skuld-chan wasn't surrounded by a few empty cartons of ice cream at the time. She was well on her way through one more when he had cheerfully stepped through the door and then opened his mouth after seeing what she was up to.

Shifting his cargo slightly to free up a hand, he quickly found that the door was locked. He frowned. It looked like the landlady wanted to keep him out again. Well, no problem for a ninja! He thought as he assumed a victory pose. The thought that he was still a student at the academy never entered his mind. However, something else did when a stray gust of wind blew past. His arms felt really really light...

"Naruto you airhead," Skuld sleepily mumbled, as her body hovered three centimeters from the floor. Naruto grunted as he struggled to keep her above the ground with his arms positioned in a way similar to a forklift. Even though his arms were shaking from the effort of maintaining their awkward angle, there was a profound sense of relief . For the second time in five minutes, he had seen his life passing before his very eyes. Living with Skuld-chan was getting dangerous, he realized. Nevermind that most of the torture techniques that he imagined her using on him was a byproduct of his first 10 years of life, and she would never use them in a million years. But he had seen the temporary nongoddess blow a fuse...and it was terrifying.

Awkwardly crab-walking a few steps to the right, Naruto carefully lowered Skuld the rest of the way to the ground before he put a sore arm behind her neck. Lifting her up again, he slowly put her down again so that her shoulder was now resting against the wall. Her head tilted downwards as she continued to sleep. Naruto took a step back to admire his friend for a moment. He liked how peaceful she looked.

Now then! Turning to the door and positioning his hands in a seal that was commonly taught at the academy, it looked like he was preparing to use an awesome Jutsu to open the lock.

He sheepishly turned to the sleeping girl once again and searched her tresses for a hairpin or other small long thin object. Finding none, he carefully picked her pockets praying to all that was holy that she wouldn't find out later.

In one of her pockets, he found a small object that looked like an elephant. Standing up, he walked back to the barrier obstructing him from his room before squeezing the object in his hand. A light at the end of its trunk slowly appeared, and Naruto scanned it up and down the door. After a moment, he heard the sound of a bolt sliding out of place. However, when he tested the doorknob again, the door still wouldn't budge. He continued his lockbreaking work. After unlatching a few more bolts, accidentally relatching one or two, and then unlatching those again, the door groaned slightly as he pushed it open.

After carefully returning Skuld-chan's universal key (3), which, his best friend claims otherwise, looked like a small pink elephant (1), Naruto carefully picked up the raven haired girl and stepped into the apartment. Only to run back out soon after, gagging. Something in there reeked of danger, and he was pretty certain the smell wasn't from moldy food. Carefully setting his friend down again, he bravely reentered to seek out the source of the strange odor.

He found them in the corner, several opened cans of paint, many almost empty. All of them were missing a lid.

With a grunt, he managed to pull a nearby window open. It protested as it slid upwards, indicating that it hadn't been used for quite some time. Several small chunks of plaster broke off from the window frame. Some landed on his hand as a small cloud of dust wafted into the air, blown free by a cool breeze entering from the newly opened window. Dusting off his hands, he turned to the first can of paint. Since the window screen already had a tremendously large hole in its center already, he didn't bother to remove it as he threw the can outside.

**Clang!** A loud metallic sound rang through the air as the paint can bounced off the ground, spilling the remainder of its contents in the process.

After a few more clangs, Naruto finally stood up and dusted his hands.

Leaving the window open to air out the inside of the apartment, Naruto exited the entranceway to retrieve Skuld.

On his way to the bedroom with his roommate in his arms, Naruto paused to look at a small trinket that was sitting on his old coffee table. Strangely, he couldn't remember ever owning something like this, but it looked oddly familiar.

He resolved to have a closer look at it once he set Skuld-chan down.

In his hurry to examine the trinket from earlier, he failed to notice that the bed was already occupied as he pushed a door further open and entered a darkened room. Shoving aside the large lump on the bed and hearing it tumble to the floor, he set Skuld on the vacant part of the bed and tucked her in.

As he left the room and closed the door, he didn't notice the lump, the one that he had shoved out of the way, sleepily get up, look around, and then return to her bed. Something was different, but sleepiness made it difficult to figure out what. Tugging the blanket over her head, she was soon snoring lightly again.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It began with the cat figurine, which Naruto eyed for some time before he eventually realized that it looked like Miya-chan. Well, when she was a cat. He picked it up and placed it in his pocket. Miya-chan might like this as a gift.

Then the open door caught his eyes. Walking up to it, he swung it back and forth as he compared the front of the door with the side that faced into the house. No, his eyes weren't deceiving him, there were four bolts on the front of the door and four sets of locks on the side. He didn't remember any of his apartments ever having more than two. Why would the landlady install so many locks on a door that was inside of a ninja village? It was like...like, umm...doing this is like having several bowls but only one filled with ramen.

He peered at the only open window in the room. The one with the large hole. He then turned to examine the wall right next to him. They could use a nice coat of paint since the wallpaper was peeling apart and the paint was chipping off. But as he traveled up and down the length of the wall, before he began searching the ceiling, he could find no evidence of the paint being used to refurbish the apartment.

He started to turn for the kitchen, curious about the sanctity of his hidden ramen stores when he heard a screech from the room that Skuld was in. _Skuld!_ he panicked.

Just before he reached the doorway, something yellow came out and collided heavily with him. Naruto tumbled to the ground, entangled in what he soon discovered was someone else's limbs.

Naruto struggled to his feet. Along with the other person, and they turned to glare at the one responsible for the accident.

Their glares quickly changed to surprise, and soon after the two were gawking at each other.

It was minutes later when one of them made a move.

"What the hell?!" one of them shouted.

"Oh my god, Skuld-chan!" the other one soon followed, spurred on by the first's voice. His voice squeaked at the end.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Bonk!**

"Ow!" Naruto shouted clutching her head as a grumpy girl left her bedroom.

"Don't use Father's name in vain Naruto-baka!" The three were suddenly staggered when a powerful bolt of lightning struck the apartment and caused it to shake. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wish harm on him." Skuld quickly said with her eyes looking toward the sky. She was now wide awake and thankful that she wasn't outside at the time.

She quickly rounded the boy in front of her with fire in her eyes, causing the target of her ire to flinch. "Haven't I told you enough times already? Don't make so much noise in the morning! Some people are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry Skuld-chan," a voice timidly apologized from her right. Skuld blinked, almost positive Naruto had just said something, but she hadn't seen his mouth move at all. She turned slowly, and found a blond haired boy cowering away in the corner. "Naruto?" He didn't reply as he scrabbled to put even more distance between the two. However, there was no mistaking the one that she had lived with for almost two years now. What she hadn't counted on, but was half expecting, was another affirmative from her left.

She turned back questioningly to look at the other boy, "Your name is also Naruto, right?" At the shy nod, she peered more closely at this one. Her friend was short enough, but you could tell that this one was even shorter. Not only that, his hair was a tad longer. In fact, it was reaching past his neck. There was a guarded expression on his face, and...were his eyes rounder?

Skuld could feel a headache coming. "What did you do now Naruto?"

"Nothing!" one defended but looking guilty.  
"Nothing!" the other one insisted with an outraged look.

The two turned to glare at each other. And then the battle started.

"She was talking to me you idiot! No, you're the idiot! Am not! Shut up!" They both shouted at each other before the synchronization faded away and they began taking turns.

Skuld sighed as she watched.

"I can hold my breath longer than you can!" One of them bragged before taking a deep breath.

"Oh no you can't!" the other emphatically denied, covering his nose and mouth and signaling the beginning of the contest.

That was all the proof that she needed. In the following moment of silence, Skuld briefly considered the chances of Naruto possibly being the only one who could ever argue with himself. She quickly dropped that line of thought, it made her head hurt. She tried to figure out how the two of them arrived here in the first place. It didn't take her long to piece together a possible story of what happened an hour ago. Now she needed to test it.

Before she could ask a question however...

One of them couldn't hold it in anymore, and, with a great big "Pwah!" breath was released and the loser of the match was declared.

The winner quickly sucked in a lungful of air before gloating victoriously.

"You cheated," the loser accused.

The winner glared, upset that the other wasn't taking his loss like a man. "Did not!" the winner childishly defended.

The defense was soon flung back with a minor alteration that turned it into a particularly troublesome and rather overused offense. "Did too!"

Skuld reached forward to get their attention, only to duck frantically as a rapidly flailing arm almost took her head off.

"Hey! Watch it! You almost took Skuld-chan's head off!"

"Skuld-chan?" the other asked, turning to look at the black haired girl. "I bet she's as dumb as you are," that Naruto finally said.

- Shock! -

"Skuld-chan is smarter than you'll ever be!" the other Naruto shouted with righteous anger. The best that Skuld could do was hiding her face behind her hands. This just transcended another level of weird.

The first Naruto calmly stood there, with a pinky shoved into the air. A bored twist of the digit let the world know that this one didn't care.

Steam appeared to leave the other Naruto's ears. "Rrr, you're the ones that's stupid. Can't count to 5 can we? Look, this is one." he said before a certain finger popped up from his fist and displayed itself prominently. "Two," he followed up as the same finger on the other fist appeared. "And look at this, it's called an eye," he said this as he gave his opponent the red-eye before he stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry.

The first Naruto couldn't ignore the taunting anymore. "Yeah? Well you probably can't hit the ground with a kunai."

"That was weak, stupid. Stupid! Stupid!" the other Naruto taunted.

The first Naruto was growling loudly now. But before the second Naruto could announce his victory, he was forced to take a step back when a powerful aura seemed to flare to life around his opponent. Had he gone too far?

"You...you ramen hater!"

Never mind that his opponent had a hand to his mouth and an apologetic look on his face, the bastard had just accused him of being a ramen hater. He leapt forward, fully prepared to deliver righteous justice.

-o-o-o-o-o-

**∗Fwoomp∗**

There was a muffled scream as one of the Narutos suddenly found a pillow in his face. Courtesy of Skuld who was now standing right next to the couch. The argument was effectively over as one of the Narutos pointed and laughed uproariously while the other rubbed his head and glared defiantly at the other. It's not clear who won.

"Okay. Okay. You," Skuld shouted, taking control of the situation. She was pointing at the one that had the guilty look from before. "You opened the cupboard didn't you?"

At his reluctant nod, she continued. "I said 'Don't.' With nice big letters!" she raved.

Naruto twiddled his fingers as he mumbled something.

"...What?" Skuld asked with a deadpan sort of voice. She didn't hear him but she had a rough idea of what he had just said.

"I think he said that he wanted a bowl of cereal and the box on the table was empty," supplied a small voice that belonged to neither participants of the conversation.

Skuld and Naruto were suddenly aware that they were not alone. They awkwardly turned to the third party, the one who looked like Naruto and appeared to have the same name.

Skuld's mouth opened and closed as she fumbled for something to say. Her eyes fell on the clock that was merrily ticking away in the corner. A brilliant idea formed in her head.

"It's 8:20!"

Two more heads turned to the innocent-looking timepiece on the wall.

"Kuso!" One of them shouted running into the bedroom.

"Skuld! I'm late! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" The other shouted as he too ran for the same room. One should note that if it weren't for a well-timed door-in-the-face, there would have been even more screaming that day.

Clutching his nose, Naruto started for the bathroom when Skuld looped an arm around his elbow. Before he started to protest, he noticed the finger on her lips and the determined expression on her face. She led him to a corner where she crouched down and tugged slighly on his arm. Confused, Naruto followed her actions. Moments later, the two watched as the bedroom door opened and, soon after, the front door slammed shut.

Skuld quickly stood up before rounding on the blond boy. Her eyes were narrowed, and her usually slightly taller form suddenly seemed gigantic and imposing. "Now that we're alone..."

Naruto cringed, noticing that she was blocking the only way out of the corner. He ducked down further, as if to fortify his position against a brutal verbal beating. One came with the force of a truck.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" The girl shouted.

He looked at her, confused. "I didn't vaporize the apartment again, right?".

Skuld had her face in her hands and she was shaking it from side to side in dismay. "He finally thinks!" She shouted, throwing her arms out with a burst of energy.

It wasn't often...no, it was rather often, but to see Skuld-chan this wild usually meant that he royally screwed something up. "What have I done this time?" he asked curiously.

She fixed him with a chilly gaze, "You sent us to another dimension."

Naruto stopped shivering in fear as soon as he heard that. Now it was his turn to be angry. "What?! I only know one person who's smart enough to build something that can do that. And in our cupboard too!"

"Don't try to redirect the blame, Naruto!" Skuld hollered back. "You were the one who opened it."

Undaunted, Naruto attacked from a different avenue. "Why was it in the cupboard in the first place?"

"Why are you so hung up over the fact that I placed a gate to another dimension in our cupboard!" Skuld roared.

"What! No I'm not! I could care less about the stupid cupboard" he shot back.

She seemed to loom over him, as she returned with, "There! You said it again!"

"Well.." He stopped shouting for a moment to think.

"Yes?" Skuld impatiently asked.

"Why couldn't you build it in your lab?" he asked with an eerie calmness, changing the tone of the conversation and reducing the amount of energy that had been in the air mere moments before.

"Sleeping next to a dimensional teleporter would have been hazardous to my health," Skuld smoothly returned.

His eyes narrowed, "Why?"

"Cosmic radiation, Black Body waves..." Skuld listed, ticking off each finger as she went along.

He interrupted before she actually said something that made sense. "What's the real reason?"

"That is the real reason!" She shot back.

Naruto just shook his head. "It isn't, and you know it."

Skuld huffed. "I hate it when you become this perceptive."

Naruto preened at the compliment.

"Anyway, we need..." she started as she reached into her pocket.

"Hold it!" Naruto interrupted loudly.

"What is it now?" Skuld asked distractedly as she pushed a button on a small gizmo that she had pulled from her pocket. It started to unfold...into a large blackboard.

"You still haven't answered my question yet," Naruto pointed out.

"Shush and just listen Uzumaki-san," she said as she picked up a nice new piece of chalk. "Now then..."

Using his last name? Now she was fighting dirty. But he could almost taste his impending victory and he wasn't going to cower now. He crossed his arms and drew himself up to full height. "Nope." he refused.

Skuld apparently didn't notice as she started to write on the board. "We ne-"

"Question," he interrupted as raised a hand and waved it in her face.

Skuld finally turned around, a half-lidded expression was on her face. "You're annoying, you know that?"

"Stop avoiding it Skuld-chan" he sang.

"I'm not-" Skuld tried to defend. She was rapidly losing control of her emotions.

"You are!" Naruto continued to gloat.

"You know what? Fine!" she shouted. Naruto relaxed signaling that he thought that the battle was over and he could relax his guard. Skuld took that moment of weakness to glare straight into his eyes.

His wide, unblinking, and expectant gaze was undeniably creepy. Her counterattack faltered in the face of such opposition.

She turned away, uncomfortable. "I was bored, okay? And I thought I could do it," she muttered.

"That's not what I was asking..." Naruto trailed off. However, there was a big grin on his face indicating that he wasn't unhappy with what he had just heard.

"It's not like you haven't done something worse before!" she accused.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged, "Name one thing."

"Miya-chan."

Naruto groaned, "I forget to tell her once and you never let me forget about it. You've forgotten too you know!"

Skuld looked like a fish out of water for a moment, her retort stuck on the tip of her tongue. Then she glared angrily at the blond boy, "You've forgotten more than once..." Skuld pointed out.

"You've forgotten just as ma-," he shouted loudly, drowning out the rest of her sentence. So it was surprising when he paused in the middle of 'many' to ask, "-What? Wasting time?"

Even after living with him for more than a year and a half, it still impressed her that Naruto could listen while he was arguing. "Yes, we're wasting time," she repeated.

"What's your plan Skuld-chan?" he inquired.

"Naruto, if we want to return to our dimension, I need to build another interdimensional wormhole. We have most of the materials that I need in this apartment, but I need some paint. Preferably paint from cans that had been open for...Naruto. I'm right here," she warned.

He quickly pulled his eyes away from the open window,

"Would spilled paint work?"

"Why do you aS-On second...thought...I don't want to know. To answer your question, no. The impurities that the paint would soak up from the earth would throw off my calculations by about an order of magnitude." As she was saying this, she was furiously writing some odd symbols on the blackboard.

It was amusing to see that while she was trying to write as high as possible, the best she could achieve was the middle of the board. Even when she was standing on tippy-toes.

After circling a wiggly line, she put the chalk down and pulled out a pointer. She started pointing at the long line of symbols one by one as she explained. "We'd need a helium catalytic core to purify the spilled paint and restore its efficiency before it could be used as a primary fuel, otherwise you'd return to our world as a slug."

As he stared helplessly at the weird symbols covering the middle part of the blackboard, Naruto quickly latched upon the one thing that he might have understood. "A slug?" Naruto tentatively asked.

She made a face, "yep, a common everyday garden slug."

He quickly stood up. "It's a good thing hardware store isn't very far from here."

"Hang on," Skuld quickly interrupted. "Do you have any money on you?"

He quickly checked his pockets. There was a flutter as a small ghostly ramen bowl with wings flew out. Looking up into the calm face of his best friend, Naruto shook his head no.

"I thought so. Okay, we need to find jobs so we can find money to...put that away Naruto, it's not yours," she reprimanded as Naruto pulled out a small stash of money that was hidden within the folds of the couch.

"But Skuld!"

"Put it back," Skuld said with a hard edge to her voice. She watched as he did so reluctantly before she sighed, "Don't worry Naruto, I know it'll be hard but just try your best. Good things happen when you do."

"Okay!" Naruto cheered as he stepped out the door. His strength renewed by Skuld's faith in him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Several hours later, Naruto was trudging to their designated meeting spot.

Skuld frowned slighly as she left the wooden bench that she was sitting on. "No luck?" she asked as she took a lick from the small strawberry ice cream cone that she was holding.

Naruto shook his head no, his head dipping lower in disappointment since he had nothing to show her. He spent the entire afternoon working, only to have the foreman walk away laughing. He smiled slightly, that didn't mean he was willing to take the higher ground. He mentally thought about the trap that he had planted in the foreman's front door. The one involving several balls of yarn that he had taken from a cat, a roll of toilet paper from the public bathrooms and the spoiled milk from the trash bin. The foreman was going to regret his actions soon...but Naruto knew that he would never see what he had earned today.

Skuld sighed, looked at him and said, "Well, help me carry these will you?"

He looked up in surprise, and there on her face was a broad grin. Skuld took a small step to the side and Naruto was greeted to the sight of a few paint cans of assorted colors.

"Skuld! How?" Naruto quickly asked. They both knew that Skuld refused to spend time working when she could be using it to invent something great.

Skuld didn't answer. Instead she gobbled the rest of the ice cream in 3 swift bites. Upon finishing the cone, she quickly sucked each finger clean of melted ice cream before she bent down to pick up a can of paint. She paused and turned to Naruto, slightly embarrassed by her recent action. "Never mind that. We can go out for ramen after we find a place to set these down."

Naruto's small smile of amusement upon watching Skuld's antics grew into something bright and sunny upon hearing about a trip out for his favorite food, "Let's go then!" he shouted as he ran over to pick up the remaining cans.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

After placing a hat on his head, and, amongst his protest, using some makeup to hide his scars, the two were on their way. His happy mode faded quickly, replaced by contentment. As they wandered aimlessly while dodging the crowd, Naruto chattered away about how his day had been. Eventually he had to stop, but not because he had run out of things to say...

...Skuld glanced over in worry. Naruto hadn't said a word for a few minutes now. He looked rather pensive. She turned back to wait. He'd tell her soon.

"Skuld-chan?" Naruto finally said as they turned a corner and began walking on a blue-lit road with few pedestrians. The blue light came from the tall streetlamps on either side of the dirt road.

"What's on your mind, Naruto?"

"Why are you here Skuld-chan?"

She frowned, "I don't understand."

"You weren't behind me when I was sent to another dimension, why did you follow me?"

She shrugged helplessly, "I was in my room at the time Naruto. I couldn't have known what you had done until I found you missing hours later. It was the Ultimate Force(1) that sped up the process.

At his confused look, Skuld quickly thought up a way to clarify her explanation. "I woke up when I felt something lift me from my bed, open the bedroom door, and pull me out. It dragged me to the door-err, kitchen. It dragged me to the kitchen, opened the cupboard, and shoved me through."

Naruto still looked confused, so she decided to clarify further. "...It quickly understood that if we were in separate dimensions, I couldn't be with you 'forever and ever,' so it took action to keep us together. Although...I've never seen it work so directly before..." she mused.

Naruto mouthed an 'o' before he thought of something else to talk about.

The two turned into an area full of empty lots and little lighting.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The two stared at the innocent looking door lit by a small yellow bulb. "I'm not sure this is a good idea." Skuld said as she pulled the hat off of Naruto's head and tucked it away.

Naruto didn't reply, instead he leaned forward.

**Knock knock knock.**

A dusty blond kid slowly opened the door and peered outside, wondering who besides the Hokage was polite enough to knock.

Blonde, spiky haired...It turns out that it was indeed a Hokage. A heroic one at that. But he was younger, shorter, and -- most importantly -- far more alive than she expected.

"Yondaime-sama?(2)" she found herself asking, prompting the two to look confusedly at each other.

One of them suddenly gained an "Ah ha" look. A look that the other mirrored, and soon after he was using an orange sleeve to rub his cheek.

When the whiskers appeared, Naruto suddenly remembered where she seen these two before. "What do you want?" she asked, infusing some toughness into her voice.

The boy, not bothered by the attempt at intimidation, quickly smiled as he asked, "Can we stay here for the night?"

"Na-ru-to..." the girl warned.

For some reason, even though she knew that the visitor wasn't referring to her, she felt a chill crawl up her spine.

"Please?" the boy quickly added in what seemed to be an attempt to appease the angry one behind him. "Hey!" the boy was shouting moments later. Apparently, it wasn't enough.

After putting the blond boy into a headlock, the girl straightened up to say something. But in that time, she had seen enough to know that the two in front of her weren't after her life like so many others.

"Okay," she found herself saying as she stepped aside to let them through.

The girl in front of her quickly deflated. Did she upset her?

"Hah! I told you he'd agree," the boy under the girl's arm gloated.

'he?' she thought. '_Well, okay...I can pretend to be a boy,'_ she concluded as she turned back to the shrieks of pain and agony.

She watched as the girl stopped giving a noogie before releasing the boy. "You could have been more polite about it you know?" the girl used a lecturing tone to say.

The scene was a bit sweet, but it bothered her as well. His face was similar to hers, and yet it was obvious that he had a friend for life. She made an irritated sound.

The two stopped fooling around and turned to face her, a curious glance on their faces.

Oops. Uncomfortable at the attention that she was suddenly receiving, she quickly grasped at something to say, "Who are you?"

"Umm...well, you see," The girl started. She could tell that the girl was attempting to stall.

After a minute of inaction, the boy soon started to shake before he lightly pushed his friend aside and opened his mouth. "Skuld-chan is trying to say that since I'm Naruto, and you're Naruto, and there has only been one Naruto in Konohagakure..."

That made sense! And she had just the question to ask. "Do you get evil looks where you live?"

"What?" someone asked.

She noticed the boy giving his friend the same look that she was attempting to give. One that seemed to convey that he couldn't believe how stupid his friend was being.

"It's simple..." he started.

"...He's my long-lost brother," she continued as she pointed at the boy.

"Brother?" he asked stupidly, "I thought you were thinking un-uff"

"He's not your brother," the girl said as she pulled her elbow back. Naruto couldn't help but feel her face fall upon hearing that. It would have been nice to have family. She waited for the girl to explain further, but there was none. In fact it seemed like she was trying not to say anything else.

The blond boy took over for her. "I'm your...cousin," he said, as he turned to her. Cousin? So she did have family! Slightly distant, but better than none. She listened intently as he continued. "We decided to take a quick trip to Konohagakure when we discovered that I had family here. Yeah, but it's all Skuld's fault for not making arrangements before we left and we didn't bring enough money so we can't afford to stay at a hotel while we're here." A brief surge of anger overcame her as she watched him turn away for a moment to glare at his friend, who appeared to be staring rather innocently at a bug on the wall. She had already said yes. Didn't he trust her?

When she felt his gaze return to her, she quickly pulled her eyes from the bug that was suddenly moving along the wall at speeds physically impossible for something of its size. She looked into his hauntingly familiar eyes as he took the moment to continue. "But that's great right? Since we're family you'll let us stay for free right?"

She had enough. She said yes, and she meant yes. She hated when people didn't believe her. And if she had to beat it into him for him to understand, there was a large oar in her closet that she could use. So with a quick, "just come in will you?" and a tight grasp on one of his hands, she dragged him into the living room.

Once inside, she was uncomfortably aware of how messy the living room had become. It was then that she remembered what she was doing before the two had arrived. "Ano, will you help me find something?" It couldn't hurt to ask right?

"What?" the boy asked.

"I've lost a precious object," she responded evasively. It wouldn't help her image if the two saw a 'boy' prizing a small cheap plastic trinket.

"What sort of object?" the boy asked in a frustrated tone of voice. The girl beside him just looked on with a neutral expression.

"It was something that I was going to give a friend."

For some reason, the girl twitched before glaring angrily at the boy next to her. Did he forget an anniversary or something?

"Could you describe it?" the boy quickly asked. He was definitely aware of the girl angry stare on the back of his neck.

"It was mostly brown, with a patch of white around the eye and on the back. Its eyes were green," she found herself describing as evasively as possible.

"It was a figurine of a cat right?"

That was right. "Yes, how did you know?"

She watched, confused, as the boy in front of her started to sweat heavily as the girl behind him started glaring with such intensity that she could almost see her cousin bursting into a ball of fire.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The three quickly found the cat trinket. Well no, after pretending to search for some time Naruto claimed that he was hungry and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

"I found it!" he had shouted for all to hear. When Skuld and his counterpart entered, he pointed inside the refrigerator. Peering inside, the other Naruto gave a shout of happiness before taking something out and leaving the kitchen. Skuld on the other hand, merely gave the embarrassed Naruto a skeptical look, not believing his act for an instant.

The two stood there silently for a moment...

"Ready to go then?" Skuld asked as the frown dropped from her face.

The tenant of this apartment returned to the kitchen.

"Hey! Naruto," Skuld's roommate had a brief look of discomfort as he used his name to address someone else, "want to go out for ramen?"

They watched worriedly as surprise filled his face. "...Yeah, okay."

The weak enthusiasm was not lost on them. "Okay Skuld, we're ready!" Naruto shouted, channeling enough energy for all three of them.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

That was how the three found themselves sitting side by side in the small ramen stand known as Ichiraku's. Skuld's roommate was wearing an odd getup involving a large nose and oversized geek glasses this time. The large bushy mustache easily covered his cheeks.

Slurping up the rest of the soup, she put her bowl down. Okay, she was starting to feel sick. Best to stop now or she'd have problems later. "Full!" she loudly announced.

She watched in amusement as her cousin, who was sitting to her left, almost dropped his bowl, and the girl sitting next to him suddenly stopped picking at the noodles to look up. "What?!" they both shouted.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" the owner asked. The other three in the stand looked at her worriedly.

Not used to being the subject of such concern, she put her hand behind her head as she laughed embarrassedly. "I already ate, before we came here," she lied. "Sorry old man," she quickly added as she addressed the owner of the stand. "I'm totally fine! Now hurry up and eat, before the ramen gets cold," she said, urging the four to continue with what they were doing.

She shouldn't have said it, she really shouldn't have. But she couldn't help it! She couldn't stop the small "please" from slipping out from her mouth.

She watched as three of the people in the stand suddenly turn white as the fourth one suddenly fell from his stool. Her cousin was the first to recover. Standing up from where he fell, he reached forward and grabbed her shoulders.

"Where does it hurt? Are you sick?" he asked in concern before he put his forehead against hers.

Well, 'put' is far too light of a word. After being headbutt, Naruto laid dizzily on the ground for some time before she mustered the strength to crawl onto the stool.

"Gaah, why is your head so hard Naruto?" she heard him shout. She barely resisted the urge to kick him. "Let's try to measure your temperature again," he said as stopped holding his forehead to reach forward again. Naruto immediately released the breath she was holding when her cousin was suddenly pulled away.

"You're going to kill your him if you keep using your crazy method, Naruto," Skuld shouted as she placed herself in between the two of them.

"What?! But I..." the blond boy blustered, trying to defend his actions.

Naruto didn't get a chance to hear the rest as she felt a gentle touch to the back of her head before her head was brought forward. She winced as their heads knocked slightly, the bruise from before was definitely not gone. However the warmth from the other girl's forehead felt soothing and relaxing.

"Sorry about him, he's a bit eager and he's never been sick before," Skuld apologized in a low voice. Naruto tilted her head slightly to show that she understood.

Skuld let her go and stood up to report her findings. "I don't think his cousin has a fever. Could be a stomach problem."

"Eh? Stomach problem? Is it because of that bad milk in the fridge?" her cousin babbled.

The owner of the stand and his daughter's eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

She felt her stomach drop into her gut. She couldn't take this caring and pity! "Oh my god! The ramen is on fire!" she shouted as she pointed into the back of the ramen stand.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

When the four finally turned back from the large pot of ramen bubbling in back, they noticed that they were down one member.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"She was just joking right, Skuld-chan? Ramen can't catch fire can it." Naruto asked with large wet eyes as he clutched the raven-haired girl for support.

"Uh...," Skuld stalled as she thought about it, "Ah, I believe it can, actually. Because of the oils inside."

"Nooo!" he howled, before he started looking wildly around for any sources of fire to save the ramen from. Right before he leapt over the counter, Skuld grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back.

"Heh," Teuchi chuckled at the blond boy's struggles. He looked down at the two. "Are you sure that you're cousins? It might not look like it, but Naruto-," he paused for a brief moment to think, "your cousin used to act just like you. Then..." his face took on a sad expression. "Listen! It looks like you're going to become a ninja right?"

"No way!" Naruto immediately denied.

At the old man's confused look, Naruto stood up and proudly pounded his chest. "I'm gonna be the Hokage!" he shouted. The black mustache on his face ruffled under the force of the shout.

The ramen chef suddenly guffawed. "Looks like Naruto has competition." He stopped laughing and leaned contentedly on the counter. "Sorry, but Naruto has already promised to make my ramen stand the best in all of Fire Country. I hope you understand when I say that I won't be voting for you."

Skuld suddenly snorted and choked. Her coughs quickly changed to laughter.

"What?!" Naruto roared as he jumped onto the stool and slammed both palms on the counter before glaring at the ramen-stand owner. "No way! Vote for me! I'm better than him!"

The old man stood up and waved both arms up and down in a facsimile of a kowtow. "Well Hokage-sama, I have a mission for you."

The blond boy looked confused. "Eh? But I'm not a ninja yet."

Teuchi laughed. "Don't worry, this shouldn't be a hard mission for you."

It sounded fun. "Okay! Whatcha got old man?"

A solemn look appeared on the ramen stand owner's face. "If you can find out why Naruto-san has been so troubled lately, that bowl of ramen will be on the house."

"Gasp! Alright! It's a deal old man! I'll find out why and fix the problem! I promise old man!" he shouted before digging into the bowl with gusto.

The owner chuckled. "I swear, you really do sound like your cousin, you know that? Hard to believe that you two have never seen each other until today."

The owner turned to a nervously sweating Skuld. "Relax! The bill today isn't as bad as it normally is," he placated, not realizing that Skuld's worries stemmed from guessing how long it would take before he connected her roommate with the Naruto of this universe.

"Ah! Okay!" Skuld responded with a shaky smile as she took the small slip of paper. Upon seeing the total, the slip of paper fell from nerveless fingers.

"Skuld-chan?" Naruto stopped eating to ask.

Skuld motioned for him to stay quiet before she turned to glare heatedly at the stand's owner. The sheer intensity of her glare made him step back twice.

Her head disappeared from view for a moment as she bent down to pick up the receipt. She popped up and slapped it angrily down onto the counter. "What gives you the right to do this?!" she demanded to the ramen stand owner.

Naruto stopped gaping open mouthed as he also turned to glare at the owner. He thought that the old man was different.

"Father?" Ayame looked questioningly up at her father.

Teuchi stammered as he searched for an appropriate response that would satisfy the three in front of him. He finally sighed, defeated. "Out of all of the people that Naruto managed to con, you're the first and only one that knew."

Ayame's eyes widened in surprise, "No!"

"Please forgive this old man for being unfair," Teuchi quietly said.

"How could you?" Naruto shouted with a betrayed look.

Skuld lightly placed a hand on the boy's arm, restraining him from doing something stupid. "Naruto. Stop. You don't understand." she said without taking her eyes off of the owner.

"I do too! The old man has been shortchanging us!" the boy protested vehemently.

"Look again, Naruto," Skuld said as she slid the receipt in front of her roommate.

Naruto stopped glaring to look down. His face immediately turned white.

"How are you staying in business, old man? This is just unfair!" Naruto cried.

"What's the real amount Teuchi-san. And don't try to lie this time, we'll know." Skuld asked as she pulled out a small box with rounded corners (4). It looked like an egg with a flattened top and bottom. The fact that it was a pale yellow didn't help Skuld's claim that her wallet was designed with the latest and greatest advances in style and that it did NOT look like a food item. It made eggs look good though. Yum.

The ramen stand owner's protest died down upon seeing Naruto's glare through the mask. He turned away and motioned to his daughter. Ayame slowly walked over and, after hearing what he had to say, nodded and headed for the cash register.

In the meantime, Naruto glanced over at Skuld and noticed that she wasn't paying attention. He quickly reached over and pressed a button on the wallet. Numbers flickered into view, and he quickly read how much the wallet held.

"So that's where you found the money for the paint!" Naruto gleefully shouted. "I knew you didn't find a job!

"Naruto...shhh," Skuld said as she quickly covered the top of her wallet. She continued to glare harshly up at Teuchi, who returned the challenge with equal fervor. Neither was winning the battle of wills. Ayame finally finished writing something on another slip of paper before handing it to her father. Taking it, Teuchi held the receipt out to his customer.

"This is what you wanted, correct? I intend to hold you to it," Teuchi said in a hard tone of voice, making the two sitting in front of the counter gulp.

Skuld looked at the slip of paper. She would have dropped it again if Naruto wasn't holding the other end as he looked at it as well.

Naruto tapped her shoulder and she saw that he wanted to huddle. The two turned to each other and brought their foreheads close together until they were almost touching.

"It's correct, Skuld." he whispered.

"It's such a big difference, how do you know?" Skuld moaned.

"He told me his real pricing plan when I confronted him last time." he quietly replied.

Skuld quickly pressed a button on the box, before turning back into the huddle. "I have more than enough, but..."

"...you're planning to do THAT aren't you?" Naruto asked.

At her slight nod, Naruto frowned for a moment as he turned to the stand. He turned back a moment later before quoting a figure.

Skuld quickly compared the value that Naruto listed to the amount that her wallet was displaying. "Are you sure? That's almost all the money that's in my wallet."

Naruto grinned before saying, "Do it anyway. Ichiraku's can't survive much longer if we don't. And yes, I also predicted maintenance costs and the cost for new equipment when I made that estimate."

"But..." she protested.

"I know that the money can be used to pay off the rest of our debts, but if we sell what's left in our shop and close it down, we'll easily recover what you're losing now. Besides, we've been too busy lately to run it with all that we have, and soon other things will take our time." Naruto reasoned. "If we decide to run a shop at a later date, we'll just start over again."

"Oi, are you two going to pay or not?" The Teuchi interrupted. He was silenced with a pair of glares that seemingly said, we'll deal with you later. The two turned back to each other.

"Will you do it then?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"I...I think I will," she finally said after a moment of silence. "But how will we get him to agree?"

Naruto pulled out a small picture with a grin. "Did you bring the heart medicine?"

"It is a lot of money isn't it?" Skuld mused, "I have a bottle...right here," Skuld said as she pulled out a small container whose safety seal wasn't broken yet.

The two turned to the stand owner and his daughter with scary grins on their faces. The two behind the counter suddenly felt the crushing weight of impending doom.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"It's good to know that the old man isn't as old as we thought," Naruto, commented as he tossed the unopened bottle of heart medicine high up into the air before catching it as it returned to earth. "I hope we didn't take too many years off of his life."

"He'll be fine," Skuld said as she walked alongside him. She pulled out a flat egg shaped container and pushed a button on the side. "It's sad seeing my wallet this empty."

"But we did something great today, right?"

"Ye-"

"Oh! We're here already?" Naruto asked, interrupting his friend.

The two entered the apartment only to find someone staring angrily at them from the first set of steps upstairs.

"You threw out my paint!" his 'cousin' roared angrily.

"Do you know how dangerous it is to leave them open in a place without ventilation?" he shot back.

"You didn't have to throw them out though!"

"Where were the lid-wha? Hey?" he protested as he was suddenly shoved from behind.

Skuld pushed the two up two flights of stairs, right through the opened door on the third floor, and finally into the bedroom.

"Alright you two, I need to work. Resolve your differences in here so that I can work in peace," she ordered before shutting the door.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The two came out seconds later, matters unresolved but willing to stay silent.

Occasionally they would have a small disagreement, but the two Narutos mainly watched quietly as the living room slowly became messier and messier. In the middle of it all was a raven haired girl.

Finally, one of the Narutos, hopelessly lost, decided to get ready for bed. That was when the real action began:

Naruto looked over the drawings spread on the floor all around his best friend. One particular drawing caught his eye. He bent down to pick it up.

He frowned, "Skuld, the paint isn't what we need."

"It isn't?" Skuld asked as she stopped trying to salvage some thread from the fraying couch. She pulled her goggles up.

"Your power calculations, they're too high. We're returning to our dimension, not jumping to another one."

Skuld took the sheet of calculations from his hand. She inspected it for a moment. "You're right," she finally said as she looked up at him, "How did you know?"

"I," Naruto's serious expression disappeared as he started rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment "I don't know." he said with a fox grin.

"Idiot," she groaned but didn't press further. She pulled the pencil from the top of her ear and began modifying her calculations.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You don't have even one futon?"

His 'cousin' just shrugged. "Deal with it"

"So there are only two places to sleep tonight...your couch and your bed."

"Yes. Wait! Where are you going?"

"There's enough room on the bed for two, so we'll both sleep on the bed while Skuld takes the couch,"

"What?! No!" the volume of the shout caused the two guests to stumble in surprise.

Skuld looked curiously at her friend's 'cousin', wondering why he was arguing so spiritedly against the last proposed arrangement. Granted, she thought that her roommate's arrangement could use a little work as well, but...

"Why not? It makes perfect sense, you're a boy, I'm a boy, and Skuld's a girl. I'm not letting you sleep with Skuld." he said, nodding confidently as he agreed with his assessment.

"No! Absolutely not! It's not going to work!" the other protested.

Sensing another argument brewing, Skuld abandoned her train of thought as she quickly moved forward to prevent another headache. "Okay you two," she quietly said to grab their attention. One of them quickly paused to listen. Without an active participant in their argument, the other soon stopped as well. Skuld used that moment of silence to continue, "here's what we'll do..."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Stop elbowing me," he complained tiredly as he shifted a little. The offending object didn't budge, but he was too exhausted to continue nagging the other so he just dealt with it.

Moments later,

"Get off me!" one of them quietly hissed.

"Sorry" the other apologized as he tried to shift out of the way.

There was a moment of silence.

"Your feet stink."

"They do not!" he cried in outrage.

"Quiet!" Skuld shouted from the bedroom. A strip of light coming from beneath the door indicated that she was still wide awake and working on something at the time.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It was dark and quiet when an elderly man entered Naruto's apartment. He looked at the two children sprawled on the couch and oblivious to the world. Seconds. That's all it took for him to compare the two and see the slight differences between the two. The fact that one of them seemed to derive comfort from the other was not lost on him.

He looked at the bedroom door that was slightly ajar. Peering in, he carefully studied the girl that was sleeping on the worn bed. He was surprised with what he saw.

Unlike most people, this girl had a very pure aura. However, even among the large regions of white, there were tiny hints of darkness. Nevertheless, the old man wasn't worried when he saw this. This was a normal occurrence, since, without the darkness to balance out the light, one would be incomplete and incapable of living.

He liked what he saw. They might not belong, and he did not fully trust them yet, but he would not have them removed just yet.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

In-Chapter Omake! Ichi!

The two were stunned senseless when they were suddenly grabbed in a giant hug.

"Dad!" Naruto shouted, turning to Naruto.

"Mom!" Naruto shouted again, turning to Skuld.

The one called Mom suddenly developed a tic mark near one of her bangs. "Just how old do you think I am?"

"Skuld-chan? Aren't you mmph!" Naruto struggled to pull the offending hand off of his mouth.

"Ignore him," Skuld said with a forced smile on her face.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld slowly wormed into the kitchen. Swathed in a large thick blanket, it was hard for her to move in any other way.

There were two blond heads in front of her, and for a moment she thought she was seeing double. The sensation quickly faded once she focused on the minute differences between the two.

She noticed that the two were looking curiously at her, so she began.

"Naruto, I can't reduce the power levels without either redesigning the system or bypassing the binary coupler. I need you to find me a pound of pure gold. Either idea would need about that much."

His jaw dropped.

"Why are you so surprised Naruto? You found a sizeable block of the metal for a nice price last time, I'm sure you could go to the same source to get some more."

"Oh! Uhh, it's not surprise. I was just thinking about what I wanted for lunch!" He laughed soon after saying this.

Skuld frowned. Throwing the comforter off, she walked up to the table, placed her hands on top, and leaned forward. "What aren't you telling me?" she demanded.

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, Skuld-chan. W-We're great friends. I tell you everything. Of course!" Naruto stuttered with a shaky grin. He laughed nervously as he gave her a thumbs up.

Skuld grinned evilly as well. "You'll tell me what you're hiding then?"

"I'm sure you already know it dattebayo." Naruto quickly replied as sweat started to appear on his brow.

She frowned. "Maybe..." she hesitantly agreed as she pulled out her egg wallet. She began to gather the ryo notes contained within. "I need the block of gold within a day. You can do that right?" she asked sweetly.

Oh shoot. Right at the source of the problem. Naruto quickly tried to figure out how he was going to rob the store before the patrolling nins arrived. "Uh...ah..."

Skuld noticed Naruto's agitation. "You're lying to me..." Skuld said disappointedly.

"Ah! A little. But it wasn't much more," Naruto quickly said as he waved his hands in front of her face.

A skeptical look replaced the disappointed one as she looked back down at her wallet. "Okay...this should be enough then, right?" Skuld asked as she pulled out a few more notes.

"Ah..." he hesitated, rivulets of sweat were starting to form on his face.

"I thought not, how much more do we need, Uzumaki-san?" Skuld asked with closed eyes. The tic mark above her eyebrow that was shaking violently did a great job of telling the others exactly how happy Skuld was at the moment.

"Umm..."

Her patience broke. "Just spit it out already!" she shouted as an explosion seemed to erupt behind her.

Cowed, Naruto quickly listed a figure. Upon hearing the amount, Skuld and his counterpart fell to the floor clutching their chest.

Skuld quickly recovered. "That much?!" she shouted as she stood up. The sick look on her roommate's face didn't have a hint of the mirth that indicated that he was putting her on.

Naruto nodded slightly, causing her to pale dramatically. "It's alright, I paid off our debts for that month." He quickly followed up with, "I mean, we had enough to pay off our debts."

Skuld didn't let his slip of the tongue pass. Catching his eyes with her own, she asked him, "How?"

"I wrote a few checks and hand-delivered them." he cheekily replied in a bad attempt to make light of the situation.

"How?" Skuld repeated in a dead voice, clearly unamused.

"Eh, don't worry about it Skuld-chan."

"Tell me!" she demanded as she grabbed him by the collar and hauled him forward.

Naruto's face adopted a grimace. "Some of my manga."

Moments later, Naruto was back in his seat as a loud "Naruto you idiot!" echoed through the air. This was soon followed by the sound of a bedroom door violently slamming shut. The sound of a palm hitting the door filled the air soon afterwards.

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto shouted as he tried to get her to open the door. "Come on! I couldn't tell you, you looked so happy!" He banged several more times on the door.

Throughout all of this, a third head was staring quietly at the scene before her. Seeing that most of the action was over now, she stood up from her chair. Since she was already dressed, she left for class.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld hiccupped before taking a sip of tea. The frayed comforter was back around her shoulders as she sat on the couch with room for two. It was clear that she had been crying, not hard, but enough to know that his news had upset her. Naruto was rubbing her back soothingly, as he softly muttered to her that everything would be fine.

"How?" Skuld finally asked.

Naruto continued his ministrations as he asked, "Huh?"

"How will everything be alright? It's not like we have a business here that we can take apart for money."

"We can start over again," Naruto replied optimistically.

"Where would we borrow the money? The Hokage was willing to lend a little last time and we started out with some..."

Naruto paused for a moment before replying, "I don't know..."

Skuld took a different approach. "Well, who do we know that could lend money?"

Naruto stopped rubbing his roommate's back to free up his hand. He leaned back in thought. "Miya-chan is stingy with her allowance..."

"And she isn't even here," Skuld pointed out.

"Saku-"

"No," Skuld said, shooting down his idea before it could take hold.

"What does Skuld-chan have against Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"I don't know," Skuld replied thoughtfully. "Just, no. Try someone else."

"...na...chan..." Skuld heard Naruto mutter before his hand snaked out and grabbed her arm. Before she could protest, the two were already off the couch and approaching the door. "C'mon Skuld-chan! I know where we can get the money for the block of gold." He flung the door open, and they entered the apartment hallway...

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"The Hyuuga mansion?" Skuld asked as she gasped for breath. The two were now standing in front of a large wall.

"Yup! Nabi-chan will lend us the money!" Naruto explained.

The exiled goddess had a feeling of foreboding. "I don't know Naruto. This isn't the same Hanabi-chan"

"C'mon Skuld, you're always worrying when something isn't the same. What can change in half a year? Besides, even if she's different, I can still convince her to help us." Naruto said with full confidence.

Skuld could only shrug helplessly. The ill-feeling grew stronger, but she decided to push it aside for now. Naruto usually wasn't wrong when it came to other people.

The sun was shining, and it would make an idyllic lunchtime at the academy. However, Hanabi was still too young to attend so she was currently training with her father in the Hyuuga training hall. Naruto knew this, and after leaving Skuld by the walls, he dug under the tall fortification and crept to the courtyard to wait.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi quietly stepped into the large field of reds, blues, yellows, and oranges that made up the Hyuuga courtyard. She hated the orange flowers. They were ugly. But her father had explained that they were there to prevent enemy nin's from setting up an ambush by hiding in the flowers.

However, she had a curious feeling that she was being watched, and it seemed to be coming from that large collection of orange and yellow flowers. She stepped closer...

"Nabi-chan! Hello!" Naruto quietly whispered as he popped out from his hiding spot and waved with both hands. He narrowly avoided her swipe.

"How are you doing? How's your father doing? Are you getting along with your sister these days? How's training? Have you ever figured out that joke that I told you yesterday?" he paused for a moment, "Oh, sorry, I didn't tell it to you yet. Okay, here's how it go-"

"What do you want?" Hanabi coldly asked.

Taken aback, Naruto quickly scrunched his face up as he thought about what to say. He leapt back a moment later, dodging another dangerous attack.

"Hey hey! Watch it Nabi-chan, you could hurt someone. Gaah," Naruto threw himself backwards to avoid the next attack. It swung by harmlessly. "Okay, that's it."

Timing it just right...

"Gotcha," Naruto crowed as he managed to seize both of her wrists. "Okay. Will you listen to me if I let you go?"

Seeing her reluctant nod, Naruto released her, only to duck when Hanabi struck again.

"Hey! You promised," Naruto whined as he leapt away.

"We're ninja," she countered.

"That doesn't mean you should go back on your promises, yo!" Naruto stubbornly retaliated as he dodged another strike.

Hanabi stopped when she heard that. "You're an idiot," she calmly said.

"Am not!" he defended.

"I have no time for your banter. What do you want?"

"Ano sa..." Naruto stalled.

"You want to borrow money right?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?" He cheerfully asked. Inwardly, Naruto was frowning. Hanabi was a great actor, but she still had trouble guessing what he was thinking. The fact that this girl figured it out so quickly had him on edge.

"I can see it in your eyes."

She was lying, but for both of their sakes he decided to play along. "Eh? Are they that easy to read? I'll never be a ninja then!" he complained as he collapsed. He suddenly popped up, "But you'll help me, right?"

"No," she retorted.

Two people quickly stopped at the entrance to the courtyard. They turned out to be a pair of guards. Hanabi glared at them, commanding them to speak.

"Mistress! We heard sounds of fighting," announced one of the Branch members. He joined his partner in focusing their gaze on the orange clad boy.

"Leave us," Hanabi commanded as she glared in their direction.

The two did so, not even sparing a glance behind them.

Naruto was quick to pick up that these guards weren't as protective of Nabi-chan as the ones back home.

The small girl turned back and favored the boy with a stiff smile. "Now then, before we were so rudely interrupted, we were talking about money? How much do you wish to borrow?"

"Hanabi..." Naruto started, not liking where this conversation was going.

"How much?" Hanabi impatiently interrupted.

Naruto quoted a figure. Hanabi's pale eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm sorry, that's too much for me," she said, shaking her head. Before a crestfallen expression appeared on his face, Hanabi headed for the door, beckoning for him to follow. "We shall ask father."

Ignoring the blaring warnings at the back of his head, Naruto complied.

The courtyard still had the orange flowers when they left. Useless things.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The two arrived to a strange sight.

"Eh? What are you doing to Skuld-chan?!" Naruto shouted at the two Hyuuga that were restraining a sullen black-haired girl.

Hiashi raised his eyebrow slightly as he turned from his subordinates to the blond child, "You know this girl?"

Naruto returned the gaze with a defiant glare, "Yes."

Hiashi frowned at the child's insolence. "Who are you?" he demanded with a hard voice.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply.

"A common thief father," Hanabi interjected.

"Daughter?" Hiashi asked with a slight nod of his head, indicating that he wanted her to continue.

Naruto's eyes widened as the girl suddenly broadcast her intention. "Wait a minut..." he started to protest.

"I have not given you permission to speak!" the white eyed man roared, his glare cutting off the boy's protests.

"I found him searching for the Hyuuga coffers. He's a better combatant than I am, but I convinced him to follow me."

"I see. I am glad to see that your lessons in deception have served you well. Please leave us, I will personally deal with these intruders."

Hanabi bowed her head and turned to leave.

As Hanabi was debriefed, a limp girl was dragged towards Naruto and promptly released.

"Naruto," the girl whimpered as she leapt up and clasped him tightly by the arm.

Naruto knew that the situation was bad. But what made it worse was her expression. Skuld-chan wasn't supposed to be terrified and resigned, she was supposed to be happy and defiant. These bastards! Making Skuld-chan feel that way. If it meant that Skuld could run to safety if he sacrificed his life, so be it. He was ready to fight. Hanabi was just about to step outside.

"You bastard!" he shouted as he pointed at Hanabi just as she entered the threshold that separated the receiving room from the hallway. The girl turned back to look upon the scene with mild curiosity.

"Watch your mouth, thief," Hiashi stated as he shifted into an aggressive stance.

"What are you going to do about it, you moron?" Naruto shouted, whipping his head toward the older Hyuuga.

The others looked on impassively. If they were impressed that a 12 year old actually had the courage to show such blatant disrespect of the Hyuuga Head, they didn't show it.

He felt a hand lightly press down on his shoulder. "Naruto..." Skuld quietly said...trying to discourage him from making the situation worse

"It's alright Skuld-chan, I'll get us out of this. It's a promise," Naruto said with a reassuring look on his face.

Skuld looked unsure for a moment before her resolve firmed and she gave him a determined nod.

"Are those your last words?"

"Hell no you old fogey, I just made a promise and I fully intend to keep it," Naruto blustered as he raised himself to full height and glared defiantly at the taller man. He assumed an odd stance, "Even if it means I have to fight a hundred of you to get us out of here!"

"Very well then. Your promise is a commendable one. However you have insulted the honor of the Hyuuga and for that you two must die." Hiashi said as he assumed the traditional Jyuuken stance. "Please leave daughter, this will be over shortly."

The instant Hanabi stepped out, Hiashi charged. Naruto shook slightly as he defiantly stood his ground, shielding Skuld with his own body.

Skuld had her own defiant look as she pulled out a handful of small objects (6) and stood back to back with her friend, keeping an eye on the two guards in the rear.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The Third stopped gazing into the crystal ball and stood up. He saw what he needed to see. Now he had a pair of lives to save.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Street urchins. Can you believe ojisan would call us that?" Naruto shouted, referring to the Third. He appeared slightly battered and a bit dirty, however he appeared to have plenty of energy as he continued to bash the Hokage for all to hear.

"At least he came in time," Skuld said as she tried muffling Naruto's loud voice with a hand. It was the only reason why the two didn't have to fight off even more nin. Well, that and no one knew who Naruto was really referring to when he was shouting about his ojisan.

Naruto finally stopped raging, allowing the girl to pull her hand from his mouth. Naruto was worried when she didn't say anything. Looking over, he noticed a small frown on her face. "Ah, I'm sorry Skuld-chan. I got us into trouble again," he laughed meekly while he rubbed the back of his neck.

Naruto crowed inwardly as a small smile appeared on her face. It quickly turned to confusion when she shook her head. "No, it's not your fault Naruto," Skuld said as she shook her head. She stopped walking for a moment before she spoke. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" he pried.

"Hanabi."

"Oh," Naruto depressedly sighed as his head bowed so that his bangs shadowed his face.

Skuld was quick to pick up on Naruto's inner turmoil. "No no. I was wondering what it is about you that changes people. Make no mistake, this Hanabi was different."

If he heard her compliment, he didn't show it. Instead, his eyes seemed to lose even more life. "But Nabi-chan is Nabi-chan, what if I stop being interesting to her."

"Our Hanabi wouldn't betray you. When we return, you'll see," Skuld decisively announced. She paused and listened for the energetic, "Yeah!"

There was none.

"Naruto?"

Now that she looked closer, Naruto appeared to be staring at a spot behind her.

Turning around, Skuld's senses were immediately assaulted by the loud lights and smoke filled sight of a pachinko parlor.

"Come on Skuld!"

"Naruto! Wait!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Ack!"

Naruto had an outraged expression as he was thrown out. Several large bags soon followed, making clinks as the ryo inside were shuffled violently.

"That kid...3 Jackpots in a row. 5 total in 10 games. He must have been cheating. No wonder why he was thrown out." a random passerby commented.

"Hee! Aren't you glad that we tried this?" Naruto asked Skuld as she slowly walked over carrying a large sack of her own. He quickly stood up and gathered the bags before hefting them onto his shoulder. He staggered forward under their weight, humming a small tune that he had made up months ago. One involving the great heroics of ramen against the terror known as green vegetables. They had more than enough money now! Yay!

Skuld followed behind him with far less enthusiasm. In fact, she looked rather sickly. 'Father,' she prayed, 'Please please please forgive me for abusing my talents!' she pleaded silently as she thought about the small beeping device located in her back pocket (5).

Up in Asgard, Kami-sama merely smiled. Skuld was far less guilty than she thought, agonizing over this was punishment enough.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

They had more than enough money now.

The first thing they used it for was to purchase the gold that they needed...

The bell on the door of the jewelery store rang as Skuld stepped outside with a small bag in her hand. She made it as far as the alleyway right next to the jewelery store before...

"Skuld-chan!"

Skuld turned to see someone step out from his hiding spot in the alleyway. Before she could protest, he had the lump of gold in one hand. She finally nodded and turned toward their temporary residence.

Now was the best time, he just knew it!

When Skuld started to take a step forward, he touched her lightly on the arm.

At her confused expression, Naruto explained. "Skuld, I have something to show you. Hold out your hand," he commanded as he reached around with his free hand and tried to take something out of his back pockets.

"Ah!" Naruto shouted happily. He stopped rummaging and turned to see if Skuld had followed his orders.

Nope. "Skuld-chan! You're supposed to hold out your hand and close your eyes," he whined.

At his insistence, Skuld finally obeyed. Just as she was reaching forward, she felt something slap into the palm of her hand. Opening her eyes, she saw several Ryo notes in her hand.

"Naruto?" she questioned.

"Skuld, take this money and go have fun."

"I couldn't..." Skuld refused thinking about how they had come about the money in the first place.

Naruto mistook her hesitation for modesty, so he pressed harder. "C'mon, it's not everyday we have this much money. I demand that you get something nice for yourself with it."

His argument wasn't very convincing, however she eventually gave in when she realized that he wasn't going to let the matter drop.

So here she was, waiting in line to pay for an interesting gadget that she had found in a small hardware shop. When it was her turn to pay, the calendar hanging on the wall behind the cashier caught her eye. If they fell into this dimension on the fifth of this month...oh! Skuld realized that an important day was coming up soon.

She glanced right and downwards at the rack of magazines on the side. One of the pictures caught her eye. Maybe...

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_To Be Continued..._

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In-Chapter Omake! Ni!

Cut! Great work everyone! We'll resume filming tomorrow.

"Where's Naruto?" asked a random stagehand. Clutched in his hands were a large sheaf of papers, the script for tomorrow.

"Last I heard, both of them were in his room," Skuld replied as she took her own script and headed for her own room to take a nap.

"What could he possibly be doing? And with his counterpart no less," the stagehand wondered.

(In Naruto's Dressing Room)

**Slurp**

"Beh! See, I'm not a ramen hater!" the blond boy said to the girl next to him as he wiped the excess broth off his face.

"I never said you were," the blond girl calmly replied as she daintily slurped from her own bowl.

"Yes you did! Half an hour ago!" the boy disagreed loudly.

"Are you even acting when you go up there?" the girl asked with a bewildered look on her face.

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**Chapter Preview!**

"Ready?" Skuld asked. The other two girls nodded. "Okay."

"For he's a jolly good fellow∼"

Naruto stepped onto the stage with his counterpart. "Miya-chan! Nabi-chan! When did you get here?"

"Next chapter," Hanabi weakly answered as she struggled to hide her blushing face. Beside her, Miya was nodding enthusiastically, completely unembarrassed that they had been caught.

"Who's she?" Hanabi finally asked once she had calmed down, indicating the one standing behind him.

Naruto looked around. "Who?"

"Her."

Now he realized who she was talking about. "Haha Nabi-chan. That's a boy."

**Next Chapter: **_**Happy Birthday to Me!**_

**Till next time!**

__

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End Chapter 5

A/N: It was a fun chapter to write, if a bit involved. Let's see if I can make the next chapter just as interesting because now that I think about it, the original outline is a bit overdone. I'll need to put my personal spin on it.

If you're wondering about the title of this chapter, think The Lion, The Witch, The Wardrobe, and try to match the characters to the roles.

(1) Naruto found out about the Ultimate Force some time earlier. To those that don't know, the Ultimate Force is a program of Yggdrasil, the computer that runs everything in AMG, that ensures that the parameters of a wish are met. Since Naruto wished that Skuld was with him forever and ever...well if he's pulled from the dimension then it will force the exiled goddess to follow.

(2) Yondaime – Note that this is before Naruto found out about why Konoha is so hostile to her. For the other Naruto, Skuld already let him know a long time ago. But yeah, if you're wondering why she isn't mad at the 4th yet like so many other fanfiction would portray.

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(3) Skuld's Invention: Universal Key

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This handy tool can be used to open almost any lock. Not just the ones that need a key.  
"Isn't it great?"

∗ Looks like a pink elephant  
"It does not!"

∗ Good for most locks except for the ones on her room and old rusty ones. Ironically, she created it in the first place for those times when Naruto decided that she needed some fresh air. See, he would somehow loop a rope around her when she isn't paying attention and something would pull her from her room and right out the door. When Skuld finally manages to work herself free, she'd find the door locked with Naruto inside snoozing on her bed, rummaging through her stuff, taking something apart, or building something.  
"..."

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(4) Skuld's Invention: High Tech Wallet

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For your money storing needs. Feed the Ryo in and automatically keep track of how much is inside. When you need the money, just type what you need on the small control panel and the egg will spit it out. Comes with the latest and greatest security features so you know that your money is always safe. "I made her wallet blow up once when I input the wrong password..."  
"So that's...Naruto!"  
"Eek! Where did you come from Skuld-chan?"

∗ Looks like an egg.  
"How many times do I have to tell you? No it doesn't!"

∗ Built in LCD display.  
"Not only can it display how much money is inside or how much you would like to withdraw, Skuld-chan uses it to check her weiaaagh!"

∗Incorporates the latest advancements in technology and design.  
"It looks like an egg."  
"Na-ru-to..."  
"You have to admit Skuld-chan, after one look, eggs become the coolest things in the world. Still doesn't beat orange though."  
"That doesn't make sense."  
"Ha ha ha."

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(5) Skuld's Invention: Probability Improver (not real name)

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Change the odds on games of chance to something better. Results vary.  
"Eh? Why didn't you tell me you had one, Skuld?"  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."

∗ A half length chopstick with a blinking light on the end.  
"You're really starting to annoy me. Have you ever seen a chopstick? They have ONE tapered end, this invention has two!"

∗ Doesn't work.  
"It does too! Increasing odds of winning by 1 percent will improve the win rate of the legendary sucker by 32 percent. This invention raises odds by as much as 3 percent!"  
"So you do have one! Can I see it?"  
"No!"

∗ Get a second one and you can eat a bowl of rice.  
"Can I..."  
"Here."  
"Yay! It doesn't look like much, but I did drop a chopstick on the ground."  
"Oh jeez."

A/N: Just so you know...plus 32 '⁄‚ per percent comes out to 96 '⁄‚ at 3 percent. But if the legendary sucker has a win rate of 1 '⁄‚, improving those odds by 96 '⁄‚ means that she now wins slightly less than 2 '⁄‚ of the time. Let's not get into the philosophy of why this doesn't work.

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(6) Skuld's Invention: Skuld Bombs

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Explosive bombs.  
"Can I have a few more Skuld-chan?"  
"No!"  
"Stingy!"

∗ Because she can't use magic for her bombs, Skuld has to create the bombs using technology.  
"They're much improved too!"  
"What were they like before?"  
"2.4 cm larger radius, wide area detonation, 2.35 g heavier.

∗ Umm, boom?  
"They can be dangerous if not used properly."  
"Is that why you're not giving me anymore?"  
"No...actually..."


	7. Ch6a: Happy Birthday Part 1

_It can only end in tears when you force a goddess to live with a demon. Or can it?_

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A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

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Pages (TNR12) – Part 1( 28 ), Part 2 ( 44 ), Total ( 72 )

A/N: Chapter Done. Broken into two parts to save the reader some aggravation.

Disclaimer: Eh, I had this great disclaimer idea about the disclaiming pig from last chapter having the incredible ability to talk, and it was going to stop attacking me because I wasn't trying to defeat it. When I ask why, it looks away and says that it'd feel bad crushing me since I just look...poor. Gaah! But when I ask for the rights to the stories so I could make some money, it gets mad and chases me again...but then I had problems making the idea work and I'm late enough with the story and I also had an omake to write...

Fine fine, I own neither Naruto, All Purpose All Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku, or Ah! My Goddess. As such, none of the characters belong to me. In no way do I intend to make a profit through the use of this story. And no, that's not the disclaiming pig behind me holding up a Katana that makes Sephiroth's sword look like a toothpick, pigs don't have opposable thumbs.

A/N – Wanna know something weird? Miya is younger than Hanabi. At the time of this chapter, she's finally 1. And yet, she physically looks like a 12 year old. They grow up so quickly these days.

A/N – I paid really careful attention with the guyxgirl situations. If you see something suggestive, it's either in your mind or totally my fault. If you pick the second, my reply is, "suuure, blame the author. I suppose the sky turning red from time to time is also my fault then?" However, if you really must know: Skuld is fond of Naruto. Hanabi adores Naruto (Naruto-san in public). Naruto(AU) falls for Naruto-kun. Miya likes Mr. Naruto, and Ms. Skuld, and Ms. Hanabi and...

2 meters: about 6 feet.

A/N – Enough with the A/N's! A Mixture of the weird and the serious! I present to you, chapter 6. Thank you.

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Another chapter, and Skuld and Naruto are still in another dimension. However, they had gathered the necessary components and now it was up to Skuld to build the machine that will send them home.

Unknown to them, forces are at work. Forces which will make a bad situation worse. Hanabi and Miya are on their way here at this very moment.

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Chapter 6: Happy Birthday to Me!

Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya, Hanabi, Kyuubi, Naruto (AU), Hanabi (AU), Hiashi (AU)

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Lesse...after nearly being killed by a few members of the Hyuuga clan, Skuld and Naruto finally have enough money to buy the really expensive one pound of gold that they need to create a new dimensional portal. However, before Skuld could build the new portal, something more important came up. A redesign!

Hu? You thought that it was something different? You think too much.

So a few days later, Naruto ended up staggering to bed, pausing briefly to wonder why Skuld had kept him up far past his bedtime just so she could keep the plans covered and her ideas to herself. Shaking his head, he lifted his couchmate's arm before throwing himself into his spot and closing his eyes.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A crayon drawing of Naruto is prancing in a meadow full of flowers at about 10 frames per second. At this speed, it was more still-life than animation, but Naruto, and his friends: Sir Robot, Superhero Guy, and Mr. Bowl of Ramen didn't seem to care.

Besides, they weren't prancing anymore. Instead they were just idling in a spot and doing whatever they felt like to pass the time. For a while at least. Then one of them decided to break the silence.

"You know what time is it?" Mr. Bowl of Ramen asked in a jolly ho ho ho sort of voice. What would be surprising to some, but not many, is that he looked like a gigantic ceramic bowl with noodles, meat, and broth sloshing inside.

"What?" Superhero Guy asked in a loud heroic voice as he paused in midswing. After asking, he gave a huge smile that went ping before he sheathed his extremely large steel sword in a holster hidden by an really cool-looking black cape.

"Ramen...time." Sir Robot cheered in a synthesized voice. Well, it was supposed to be a cheer, but the dull monotone of its voice made it hard to tell. Sir Robot was the blockiest member of the group, but fun in its own right.

"But where will we find the ramen?" Naruto, the real hero, finally asked. He was much taller than normal, with an elegant baritone voice...imitated. So it actually came out as squeaky and odd sounding, but he fully believed that he sounded distinguished and that's what counts, right?

"Am I Mr. Bowl of Ramen or am I not Mr. Bowl of Ramen?" The giant bowl of ramen asked as he sat down.

The four pulled out metal chopsticks. They had to be metal, otherwise the sun wouldn't be gleaming sinisterly off of them.

They were enjoying the delicious flavorful soup for some time when a curious noise made the four stop and look up.

Naruto looked confused. "Did you hear something?" he asked worriedly, his voice reverting back to its childlike tone.

**Shing! **Superhero Guy's sharp steel sword was fluidly pulled from its sheath as he stood and assumed a heroic stance. "Don't worry, nothing will get past me." He promised with a large smile. His teeth pinged again.

**"****Naruto..."** It echoed from all over.

"Was that Skuld-chan?" He was looking a bit worried as he searched around for a tablecloth or some other large object to hide Mr. Ramen.

"No...way," came Sir Robot's reply. "Skuld...chan...has...a...ugh-lee-er...voice."

The first and only mistake before IT happened.

IT involved a **Chong** to the head and the eventual collapse of the victim in question. So, without fanfare and amidst a crowd of horrified stares, a **Chong** rang out before Sir Robot dramatically tilted to the side and fell over with a thud. Seconds later the culprit, a wok, slid off of its head and landed on the soft grass with a thump.

The concious members of the party all shrank back in fear as a frowning girl suddenly appeared in front of them. She was holding a frying pan like a paddle and waving it threateningly.

"Naruto, you idiot, get up already!" Skuld shouted as she reared back and prepared to swing.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld tried shaking the sleeping boy again. "Naruto...wake..."

**Bonk!**

"Ow!" two people cried out as they crumpled onto whatever surface they were occupying at the time.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Naruto whined from the couch. He was on his side in a fetal position as he clutched his forehead in pain.

He froze in his groans when a head slowly appeared near his feet. "Ow..." Skuld moaned unsteadily as she managed to prop her chin onto a battered couch cushion.

"Skuld-chan! I'm really really sorry for this and whatever I did to make you mad." Naruto groveled flipping around so that his face, and not his feet, was inches from the girl's nose.

Skuld wasn't listening, instead she was struggling to pull herself onto the couch so that she could collapse bonelessly onto it. Naruto quickly moved back to give her some room to climb. Well that, and to avoid being smacked in the face as one of Skuld's arm windmilled when she suddenly lost her balance.

Once the raven haired girl was bodily resting on the sofa, she penguin flapped one of her arms in an odd attempt to carelessly wave away his worries. Realizing the futility of her gesture, Skuld quickly mumbled "It's okay, it's okay," into the couch as she reached up to touch the tender spot on her forehead. She winced slightly as it tinged. Naruto's head had done it again. This was what...the 15th time that they knocked heads now? Why did this keep happening?

Her eyes widened as something occurred to her. "Wait wait," she found herself saying as she pushed herself up so that she could turn and glare piercingly at the troublemaker. "Whatever you did? What did you do now?"

For a moment there, Naruto looked like a fish out of water. His mouth finally stopped flapping as he looked down and started twiddling his fingers. "Wasn't Skuld-chan waking Naruto up to yell at him?" he asked with a small voice.

"Was I?"She innocently asked before she swung. **Bonk!**

"Ite!" he cried before covering his head to ward it from further danger.

She hid her debugging hammer away. "That was cute Naruto, real cute," she said with a deadpan expression. Her expression slowly changed to a serious one. "You're a year older Naruto, it's time to grow up a little."

"Eh?" He asked, confused.

She winked and a small smile graced her face. "Happy Birthday." she quietly said as she swept her arm out in a wide circle.

And that was when he noticed the festive decorations adorning his counterpart's living room. Blue and pink streamers hung from the ceiling and a large banner saying 'Happy Birthday Naruto!' hung upon a faded wall. On the small coffee table next to the couch, Naruto saw a small cupcake holding a swaying candle.

Skuld noticed his interest in the cupcake. "Like it? I brought it from the bakery so you don't have to worry about the taste,"

The exiled goddess watched curiously as her friend's face flushed a little. "I would have eaten it anyway Skuld-chan. Even if you put too much sugar in and then burnt it." he said, embarrassed.

She frowned before smacking him lightly atop the head, eliciting another yelp. "You don't have to rub it in," she sulked as she stood on the cushion before swinging one leg, and then another, over the back of the couch.

She was now sitting on the back of the couch, and with a small swing of her legs, she was off the couch and in the space on the other side. She ducked, disappearing as the couch hid her from view.

"When?" Naruto asked as he turned and grasped the back of the couch to pull himself up slightly so that he could peer over the edge. He saw Skuld crouched near the ground and in the middle of pulling a messily wrapped present out from underneath the couch.

"Huh?" Skuld asked as she paused and looked up at him in confusion. Naruto's head disappeared and the exiled goddess stood up for a better look.

"Oh," she cried when she saw the decorations. "Last night. When you went to bed." She felt a large grin fill her face when an enlightened expression appeared on her friend's face. "Have you figured out why I kept you up so late then?" She found herself asking.

She waited for a brief moment before opening her mouth to explain...

...but Naruto wasn't about to let her steal the show. "You're so sneaky Skuld-chan! Keeping me up late so I would wake up after you!"

"Exactly!" the girl said with a grin. "My surprise is complete!" she cackled. Looking down, she noticed the object that was still in her hands. "Oh. Here you go," she said as she held the birthday gift out to him. "a present that you didn't have to shake me awake to find."

Naruto hesitantly reached forward to take the gift, as if he expected the present to suddenly fly away at any moment. Pulling it away reverantly, he noticed that something wasn't quite right. "What's wrong Skuld-chan?"

Skuld's eyes widened in surprise. "Eh! Uh...ah...Don't worry about it Naruto," Skuld finally managed to stammer out.

"But I am worried! Skuld-chan must be this," he suddenly pulled his hands far apart to indicate just how large, "happy! If she's not then the world will end!"

"You know that's not true," Skuld said with disbelief as she leaned forward slightly so that both hands held up her head and her elbows propped her up off of the back of the couch.

"It is!" Naruto whined.

The room was silent for a few seconds before Skuld gave a small sigh as she relaxed and folded her arms on top of the couch's back before resting her chin on top of her hands. "It's small..." she mumbled.

"Eh..." Naruto asked, not understanding what she meant. A small problem? maybe?

"Hanabi-chan, Miya-chan, and I were planning on throwing a very large birthday party for you," she explained. " But then the two of us took an unexpected sidetrip. This is the best that I could do on such short notice." she said with a flourish before hunching over to stare at the ground.

"It's great!" Naruto cheered as he threw his arms around her neck. "This is my second birthday party ever, and it's just as special as the first because Skuld-chan is here again to celebrate it with me. Once we return, we can throw the great big one for Miya-chan cause it's her birthday too. She won't be mad that it's late then."

Trust her roommate not to let the small things weigh him down. It was hard to feel sad when he was around to keep everyone happy. "Okay," Skuld said, a small smile gracing her face but her long hair hid it from view.

The front door suddenly swung open, almost as if it were blown inwards. Startled, Naruto immediately let go of his best friend to turn and see. Skuld was already staring at the open door in surprise.

"I'm home," Naruto's counterpart loudly announced on the way in.

If the two were surprised before, they were VERY surprised now, his 'cousin' was early. Truly early. Cut class early. Sure, Naruto cut class too, but he never returned home during school hours since he preferred being outside when the weather was nice. And the weather outside was VERY nice if a quick glance outside the window was any indication...

...Okay, so a quick glance revealed that gray building next door was very unattractive...but there was still plenty of sunlight filtering through the two living room windows.

"Umm...welcome home." Skuld uncomfortably said. She hadn't expected visitors to this private party.

"Cake?" Naruto quickly offered as he used both hands to quickly lift the small cupcake from the coffee table. Seeing that the flame was still dancing merrily, he made a hasty wish and blew out the candle. It promptly disappeared with a small pop.

Moments later, the front door slammed shut and loud footsteps could be heard running down the stairs in the hallway outside.

The two finally heard a distant slam as the steel apartment door was forcefully shut and Naruto's counterpart left the apartment.

"Quiet you brat! Before I tell the landlord!" Someone downstairs suddenly hollered.

Silence settled over the apartment again.

"Skuld-chan? Why did he run out like that?" Naruto finally asked, as he turned to her with his forehead furrowed in worry.

There was a confused look on the girl's face as well. "I don't know," she finally replied. "Why don't we go find him and ask?"

Naruto looked at his unopened present. "Do we have to?" he whined.

"Well, we could continue to party..." Skuld hesitantly said.

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he shook his head. "I don't feel like partying anymore, let's go Skuld-chan!" He jumped up.

"Huh?" Skuld had a confused look on her face when Naruto took her hand. She found out why moments later as she was pulled off the couch and flying towards the front door moments later. "Let go let-NO! Don't jump! Eeeyaaah!!"

There was a thud as Naruto landed heavily after leaping off of the first set of stairs with Skuld in tow. Before Skuld could hit the floor, Naruto had already leapt from the top of the stairs on the first floor and was on his way to the ground floor.

"Naruto!" Skuld cried as her path suddenly changed in midair.

Naruto's landed cleanly, but the effect was ruined when he was promptly turned into a surfboard by Skuld when she fell onto him. The two flew another two meters before skidding coming to a stop right before Naruto became intimate with the steel door leading outside.

("I said shut up!" someone shouted from upstairs before there was the sound of something heavy hitting a wall.)

Unsteadily getting off of the blond boy, Skuld punched him lightly on his head. "Never do that again," she said as she pushed the front gate open and walked out.

Naruto just sobbed silently. It wasn't enough for Skuld to use him as a magic carpet. She had to 'tip' him afterwards. And then she leaves without placing a band-aid on the new wounds to console him afterwards.

"Eh? Wait Skuld-chan!" Naruto said as the cuts and bruises on his body miraculously disappeared as he leapt to his feet.

Upstairs, a faint wisp of smoke wafted from a silent candle as a birthday "cake" sat forgotten on the coffee table.

From the corner of a window in the living room, a blond boy could be seen on the streets, arguing with a black-haired girl before the two split up. One headed for the training areas while the other went towards what looks like the market district.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Ow..." she groaned as she lay there, her limbs twitching as she struggled to move.

There was a strange sound barely heard through the loud winds produced by the glowy circle above her. She strained to make out just what she was hearing.

**Myaaaaaaaaaaaa**

Her eyes widened. "Oh...god." Any minute now a 40 kilo object was going fly out of the glowy circle and land right on top of her. She shuddered as she imagined how much more it would hurt.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins, infusing her limbs with new life as the pain disappeared and they started moving with a purpose. But she needn't have bothered. They were still moving too slowly, and at the rate she was going she couldn't avoid her fate. She could only pray that the glowing circle stopped pointing downwards so that Miya-san wouldn't land directly on her.

Surprisingly enough, it did just that. Just as she managed to roll onto her stomach, the Hyuuga heard Miya-san soar right over her with a confused sound before...

**Crunch! Roll roll...**

"ow...nya." the pink-haired girl whimpered when she finally came to a stop from her brief tumble.

The glowy circle disappeared with a shwoop.

She knew the other girl was coming seconds in advance. She even heard the girl. But to see the pink-haired girl here, now, she just couldn't help herself. "Miya-san! You came!" She cried weakly to the swirly-eyed girl.

Hanabi suddenly blinked and made an awkward sound before coughing and saying. "I mean. How irresponzi-irresponsi-irresponsible of you. Now we're both stuck here without help."

Miya shook her head slightly to clear it before tears sprung into her eyes, "I'm sorry...nya."

The obvious leader of the group accepted the apology in a stride and continued. "Let's go," Hanabi commanded in a somewhat strong voice as she shakily stood up and brushed off her slightly singed red kimono. While some of the gold trim was peeling off after the rough trip, she was rather unamused to note that the orange sleeves were still in pristine condition. She suddenly looked up, aware that she was being stared at.

At Miya-sans curious look, she abruptly stopped thinking about the state of her clothing to address their current situation. "Miya-san, we're going to find Skuld-san and Naruto-san or die trying." She said as she clenched her fist in front of her in what passed as a determined stance. The stance and the line were oddly similar to a scene found in one of Naruto's manga. Rather surprising since the white-eyed girl often said out loud that she preferred books with far more taste.

The pink-haired girl didn't care what Hanabi was secretly doing, as long as she could see her friends again. "Okay!" the pink-haired girl happily cheered as she jumped to her feet and pumped a fist high in the air.

Hanabi smiled for a brief moment at Miya-san's antics before her face hardened in a serious look. She formed a seal...

**Byakugan.**

She immediately stumbled as a feeling of lightheadedness overwhelmed her. She knew right away that her chakra reserves were extremely low and her bloodline was rapidly draining what was left. But she could now see all around her. And the first thing that she saw was that there were no signs of Naruto-san or Skuld-san anywhere nearby.

"This way," she pointed, picking a random direction before deactivating her bloodline. Downtown Konoha was probably the best place to start their search.

"Okay!" Miya cheered.

-o-o-o-o-o-

After almost two hours of searching without any success, morale was at an all-time low.

"Miss Hanabi, are you okay?" Miya asked worriedly as she looked behind her. Hanabi was pale and almost at the point of falling over.

"I'm fine Miya-san..." the white-eyed girl managed to gasp as one of her feet slowly created a long furrow in the dirt.

"Okay," The pink-haired girl said with a nod and a smile, fully believing the de facto commander. She turned around to continue, only to turn back moments later when she heard a body collapse to the ground.

"Miss Hanabi!" she cried as she ran over to the prone girl. She soon had her medical kit out as she probed the girl beneath her for any signs of life.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi managed to open her eyes just as Miya started to pull out the large bandages from her first aid kit.

Really large bandages. Large enough that, if necessary, they could also serve as togas. Skuld was the only one that ever had a negative thing to say about them. When she had heard about the bandages, she had called the green-eyed girl into her room and began listing several reasons for why such bandages were pointless to a sulking catgirl.

She wasn't paying much attention while she ranted, and accidentally cut her finger. Quickly putting her finger in her mouth, Skuld asked Miya for a bandage. A mistake! She was promptly mummified because an overeager pink-haired girl wanted to show how useful these bandages could be. Everyone had the sense to stay quiet about the bandages afterwards. Simply put, it might've looked like an accident, but the way things often worked around Miya...

So, after a demanding fight with exhaustion, Hanabi was sitting upright and pretending that everything was fine. She felt a little bad when Miya's face fell, but when the catgirl put away the large swathes of bandages all guilty feelings were promptly replaced by a great inner cry of 'saved!'

But just because she could sit up didn't mean that she could stand though. She tried anyway, but after several failed attempts she was forced to face the facts. "Mi-" she started to say before she forcefully clamped her jaw shut. Hyuuga's didn't ask for help.

"Mm?" Miya asked with a curious smile as she looked up from her first-aid kit. She studied the girl before her for a moment before coming up with what seemed to be wrong. Hiding her first-aid kit away, she turned around and presented her back to the shorter girl.

Hanabi said a quiet thank you as she reached forward to climb on.

"Hanabi-sama!" came a shout from behind.

Hanabi and Miya turned to look at the man and the woman in surprise. With their white eyes and the caged bird seal on their forehead, it was easy to tell that the two belonged to the Hyuuga branch house.

"What have you done to her!" one of them shouted upon seeing the the dirty, slightly-beaten appearance of the Hyuuga Heir.

"This is bad, nya..." the pinkhaired girl worriedly said as she slowly stood up with Hanabi firmly hanging from her back.

Hanabi was less worried. These two were from the branch house. Even though she didn't recognize them, as a main branch member she still had some influence over their group. This situation might look bad at the moment, but she could turn it in her favor, although...for a moment she had wished that she had taken the time to learn how to activate the caged bird seal from her father. She immediately squelched that thought. She could imagine the disappointment on Naruto's face when he heard that she learned it.

The two branch members glared before activating their bloodline. "Release Hanabi-sama now," one of them commanded.

"Don't," Hanabi immediately whispered into the ear of the one who was carrying her. She did this without moving her mouth. A trick that she had learned with Naruto since Hyuugas tended to be masters of lip reading. However, it wasn't easy to say long sentences coherently so she couldn't explain to the catgirl why she was countermanding the order.

Miya shifted slightly, and Hiashi's second daughter was reasonably sure that the girl carrying her didn't know who to obey. She had to make this quick.

She looked at the two before asking, "Don't you two have something better to do at this time?"

The two glared at the white-eyed girl before they realized that they were in the presence of an heir. Their glare quickly changed to fear before settling upon a stern countenance. "Hanabi-sama, your father has forbid you from leaving the mansion today. Why have you disobeyed him?" one of them asked as she took a step forward.

From her perch, Hanabi felt Miya-san start shaking slightly. The woman had entered Miya-san's safe zone and the taller girl was becoming edgy. She had to defuse this situation before the other branch member entered as well. But how? She furiously wracked her brains but nothing sensational was coming up.

"I wanted some fresh air," she cooly replied, stalling for time. "Please return to the mansion and inform my father that I am out and will return momentarily."

The male branch member shook his head at the suggestion. "You will return with us and report to your father in our stead," he ordered as he also stepped forward.

Hanabi refused to be intimidated. And she could win this as long as-

She suddenly felt the ground lurch from under her. "Miya-san! Wait."

Hanabi almost didn't tighten her grip in time when Miya suddenly took off in the other direction.

The two branch members weren't standing still when this happened. One of them pulled out a walkie talkie while the other immediately gave chase.

"Call off the search for the Kyuubi brat, mistress Hanabi has been taken." She shouted into the communicator before she ran after the other three.

With her bloodline active, Hanabi saw that the two branch members were fast approaching and they didn't look happy. She couldn't salvage the situation as it was, so it was time for Plan B.

"Miya-san, combat mode activate," she shouted as loud as she could into the onrushing air. Miya must have heard her through the wind because a pair of cat ears(1) suddenly shot out from her head.

The catgirl began glowing slightly as she suddenly started running three times faster. An odd unearthly caterwaul filled the air as Miya shot off towards the heart of Konoha, quickly leaving her pursuers in her dust. On her back, Hanabi had her eyes shut tightly as she held on for dear life. The wind was whipping past her at speeds that threatened to rip her off. She didn't scream though. Not yet.

-o-o-o-o-

"Found you!" he shouted as he peered under the small bridge. He knew that his counterpart would be here, and Skuld-chan didn't believe him. His 'cousin' looked up at him with a surprised expression before hunching over again to stare into the bridge-shadowed water.

"Hey hey hey, why did you run out like that?" Naruto asked as he ducked and made his way under the bridge.

There was no reply.

"Why?" He asked reaching forward to poke the other boy on the shoulder. He immediately leapt back in surprise when his 'cousin' recoiled violently. Naruto watched, stunned, as he was given a brief glare before the other turned away again.

When he could finally move again, he slowly reached forward. "Why are you so mad?"

When there was no reply, he gave a tap on the boy's shoulder before drawing his hand back like it was on fire.

"..." aside from a twitch, there was no other reaction.

So he tried again. Except with a poke this time.

**Poke.** "Why?"

"..." The other boy continued to give him the cold shoulder.

**Poke poke poke**

Gritting his teeth, Naruto's light pokes soon became impatient jabs because of the amount of force he was starting to shove into them. "You're pissing me off, you bastard. First you decide to ruin my birthday party and now you won't even tell me why."

His jabs must have hurt, because the other boy was leaning farther and farther away everytime he stabbed forward with a finger. But his counterpart continued to say nothing.

**Jab jab **"How many times do we get to celebrate a birthday? Once a year! This is the second one that Skuld-chan threw for me and then you walk in and break the happy mood..."

"..."

**Jab **"...I haven't even got to open my present. So here I am demanding that you tell me what's going on while the cold giftwrapped box is sitting in your apartment all lonely and unhappy because the birthday boy has to go out to find his dumbass cousin who suddenly decides to throw a tantrum for some dumb reason..."

"..."

**jab jab **"...Why won't you tell me what we did wrong? I promise that I'll fix it. Is it because of the decorations in your apartment? We'll take it down. If you wanted a slice of the cupcake, we hadn't even touched it yet. When is your birthday? We-"

"October 10th, okay?!" the other boy shouted angrily before turning away again.

Naruto took a moment to recover from his surprise. "That's...That's great!" he cheered "Did you know that I have the same birth...oh damn. Today was your birthday too, wasn't it? I'm really sorry. No, scratch that, I'm really really sorry. Gaah, I'm really totally-"

He saw his counterpart turn to him. Naruto fell back when his double was suddenly in his face and roaring, "Shut up yo!"

"That's rude! I'm trying to apologize to you!" Naruto shouted back.

The air seemed to thicken, blanketing the area with a heavy bitterness. "Why do you care? You're just like all the others!" the other boy quietly said in an emotion laden voice as he turned away.

That previous comment was not true. They both knew it. "No we're not." He said anyway as he grasped for the next thing to say, "Do you wa-"

"Shut up!" His counterpart interrupted. "Go away yo!"

"No." Oops, he didn't mean to say that. It just popped out.

His alternate turned an unhealthy shade of red. "I said get lost. Get L-O-S-T! Understand?" his 'cousin' shouted before picking up a stone and threw it at him.

Naruto pounced on the stone before it could hit him. "Nope, not till you listen," he said with a grin as he casually started tossing the rock up and down. As if he knew something that the other didn't.

"There's nothing to listen to!" the boy in front of him cried as he crawled out from beneath the bridge and stood up to run. He got as far as the patch of dirt where the bridge's shadow fought with the bright noonlight.

**Snap!**

"Gotcha!" Naruto crowed happily. He stopped laughing when he noticed his 'cousin' fall to the floor clutching his ankle. He paled. That wasn't supposed to happen!

"Who put that ¤#'⁄‚ˆ trap here!" his 'cousin' cried in agony. His shout spurred Naruto into leaping over another one of his hidden traps so that he could have a closer look at what was wrong.

"Let me see," he found himself saying.

Not waiting for a reply as he began prying at boy's hands. When the other finally stopped resisting and moved his hands out of the way, Naruto pried off the trap and pulled up the leg of the jumpsuit. He looked at the visible swelling around the ankle. After touching it slightly and hearing a gasp in the process, Naruto looked up.

"It's...broken. I'm...really sorry," he quietly said as he helped move his 'cousin' back under the bridge before placing the affected area into the nearby stream.

He watched his counterpart stiffen the instant his foot made contact with the water. Curious, he reached forward before immediately pulling his hand back.

_'That water is freezing!' _he realized as he shook his hand to regain feeling.

"You...set that trap...didn't you?" his counterpart accused through gritted teeth.

Naruto hung his head and nodded. He didn't mean to use Jounin level traps when he had stopped up the escape routes before confronting the boy before him.

He heard a small curse. Then something indistinct filtered into his hearing.

He looked up. "What?"

"Talk dattebayo." the other boy said irritatedly.

He was still confused.

The boy in front of him sighed before saying, "You wanted me to listen, and I'm not going anywhere. So talk."

He didn't know what to say.

So the two just sat quietly together. Under the bridge, it was a bit too dark to watch the stream move. However, they both stared at the water anyway, listening to the water flowing calmly along.

After a long silence, one of them finally decided it was too quiet.

"You know, I can't help but feel that I know you from somewhere. And not as some stranger. It's as if we're so close that I almost know what you're thinking."

"That's because..." Should he say it?

"Because?"

Yeah, he should. It was so outrageous that his counterpart would never guess the truth. "Because, I'm not your cousin."

He heard a sharp intake of breath. "You're me aren't you." the other voice quietly asked.

Naruto gasped in surprise. His other was smarter than he gave him credit for. However, the conclusion wasn't quite right and he opened his mouth to add, 'or would have been if Skuld-chan had visited you.'

But he was beaten to the punch. "Or you would be me if you were a girl."

"What?" He couldn't help but be bewildered at such an odd statement.

"Oh god, how dumb are you? Haven't you seen the signs already? I'm not supposed to sleep next to you. I take a shower at a different time than you do. There are flowers in my room..."

"Ukki-kun isn't a flowering plant," he found himself pointing out.

The gender-confused one looked stunned and a bit upset at that one. Before he could ask what was wrong, his counterpart had his shoulders and was shaking him wildly. "I'm a girl! G-I-R-L!"

Naruto finally managed to free himself. "No you're not. Skuld-chan is a girl."

"Oh my god, neither of us wear dresses! How do you know that Skuld-chan isn't a guy?"

"Easy! Her hair. It's nice and long," he said, nodding as he agreed with himself.

"I am a girl you idiot!" His counterpart shouted, saying it with such conviction that Naruto almost believed him.

Almost. Because, if the one in front of him was a girl...then that would mean..."There's no way I could be a girl!" he shouted in a panicky tone of voice.

"Of course not! I'm the girl!"

"No way! You're all macho and everything and confusing and..." he shakily found himself saying.

Naruto was brought up short by the half lidded expression on the other's face, "just who are you referring to?"

"You!" Naruto shouted as he pointed.

Naruto's pointing finger was slowly pushed out of the way.

"You mean you're not macho and everything and confusing..." a skeptical voice asked.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted in outrage.

Before he could retort, all the energy suddenly disappeared from the air as the other slumped over. "Don't you see why I'm like this?" his counterpart asked in a sad voice.

"Huh?"

"Do you have any idea how humiliating it is for us to show fear and weakness?" the sad voice continued.

Naruto was about to nod vigorously before he paused to think about about what his counterpart had just said. It wasn't just humiliating, sometimes it was very dangerous.

He finally did nod, a slower more serious one. "I guess..."

An angry look appeared on her face. "It's worse if you're a girl yo."

"Really?"

-o-POV-o-

She bit back a laugh. "Really, truly." She pulled her numb foot from the freezing cold water and hugged her knees to her chest.

A pair of arms encircled her. "What are you doing yo?" she asked stiffly.

"Skuld-chan gives me a hug whenever I feel sad and and I always feel better afterwards," Naruto mumbled.

The girl didn't say a thing. She had imagined receiving one of these for years, and now she didn't know what to feel. This hug wasn't anything like she imagined. Instead of feeling warm...it felt violating and uncomfortable. She wanted to throw him off. She really did. But no one had ever been this sweet to her before, and she didn't want to upset him. She opened her mouth to say the first thing that came to mind. That might get him off.

-o-POV-o-

"I'm a girl."

"Sure sure. Okay, you're a girl," Naruto said in a tone of voice that indicated that he still didn't believe his duplicate. But in order to keep his counterpart happy...

"Don't worry Naru-chan. Everything will be okay." he whispered.

"..."

There was no reply. "Naru-chan?"

"E-Eh?!" the self-proclaimed girl squeaked before breaking the hug and leaping away. Well, 'she' leapt a bit too hard and ended up knocking 'her' head against the underside of the bridge. Grasping 'her' head from the sudden strike to 'her' noggin, 'she' had no way to regain 'her' balance when 'her' broken ankle decided to keep 'her' foot from landing firmly on the slippery rocks in the stream. So Naruto was treated to the sight of a foot soaring high into the air as his double fell backwards into the water.

**Sploosh! ** A giant fountain of water erupted from 'her' landing site.

He couldn't help it, he laughed. It was so hilarious. His laughs suddenly became fake coughs when he- no, she shot him a tearful glare. Had to be a girl, guys wouldn't pout like that.

"Ow," the 'girl' suddenly whimpered as 'she' leaned forward to clutch 'her' ankle. Naruto immediately stopped laughing or coughing.

Without wasting a moment, Naruto was on the edge of the bank and dragging the moaning bo-girl out of the water. 'She' let him examine the injury without a fuss this time, and Naruto was relieved to see that the injury had not worsened. Even so, it wasn't good to leave his...no, 'her' broken ankle unsupported like that.

"I'm going to splint your ankle."

He didn't wait to see the other's nod before he pulled out his last trap kit. Taking a winding of wire from the kit, he returned the kit to his pocket after reshrinking it.

Setting the long wire down right next to him, Naruto started rummaging through a secret pocket in his jacket. He soon pulled out a few strips of fabric, which he gazed sadly upon. They weren't a bright vibrant orange anymore, and it wasn't because it was dark under the bridge. The grease Skuld was using when she decided to cut apart his old jumpsuit was very hard to remove from fabric. When he finally managed to pull it out after several repeated washings, he was dismayed to find several pale spots where the grease used to be. Shaking his head to end the memories, he set the orange strips down on top of the wire before reaching into his holster.

He heard a gasp when he pulled out the last item that he needed. Confused, Naruto quickly realized what he was holding. He quickly ran its edge against the palm of his hand before showing his palm to his dimensional double.

"Oh," was the reply as 'she' quickly relaxed. Placing the blunt steel training kunai lightly against 'her' ankle with the blade facing upwards, Naruto reached for a strip of cloth.

He worked in silence for some time, when out of the blue he thought he heard a small voice say, "Call me that again."

"What?" he asked as he looked up, pausing in his attempt to tie the wire.

"What were you saying before you pushed me into the water?" his counterpart reluctantly asked.

His jaw dropped. "I didn't push you in! You fell in!"

'Her' face turned red. "You...", he no, 'she' angrily said as 'she' started to stand. Naruto immediately leapt forward to grab 'her' shoulders to hold 'her' down. He wasn't done splinting 'her' ankle yet and 'she' could fall over again, this time worsening the break.

However, in doing this, he accidentally pushed his counterpart to the ground before falling right on top of 'her'. Their faces were so close that their noses were almost touching.

'She' struggled under him briefly for a moment before 'she' stopped glaring into his eyes and turned to look at something to the side.

"Nevermind." his double said quietly.

"I didn't push you in..." Naruto said again before pushing himself off of the wet 'girl', moved back to 'her' feet, and continued on the splint.

'She' didn't say anything as 'she' sat up afterwards and watched him work quietly. The two considered the matter dropped.

"Almost done Naru-chan." he said after a few minutes as he carefully looped a wire. His eyes widened, "Gaah." He barely managed to pull back when 'she' suddenly kicked outwards and screeched.

"Hey! Watch i-" he abruptly shut his mouth recoiled when a face suddenly appeared right in front of his own.

"Say it again!" the owner of the face shouted happily. Who could say no to the bright eyes and large smile on her face.

Naruto could. He looked at her in irritation as he asked. "Again? Just tell me what you want me to say?"

There was no mistake about it, his double was pouting. "Naru-chan!" 'she' shouted.

"What? Naru-chan?" He repeated, confused.

'She' squealed as her beaming face came even closer. Naruto rapidly shuffled backwards to make some room.

"Say it again dattebayo!" 'she' demanded harshly, 'her' voice cracking like a whip.

"Naru-chan, you're getting scary..." he squeaked.

"Kyaa!" the 'gir'l cried happily as she leapt onto the boy with a wet squelch and proceeded to hug him for all 'she' was worth. Which was a lot actually, even if it wasn't a rib cracking hug. "No one's ever given me a pet name before! Thank you! Thank you!"

'She' paused, her clear blue eyes staring at the ceiling as she thought for a moment. "Naru-chan, Naru-chan," she mumbled, before looking happily into his eyes, "Since I get Naru-chan, I'll call you Naruto-chan!"

He grimaced as a memory of Skuld popped up and said 'Naru-chan'.

"No thanks. Naruto is good." He said.

'She' frowned, before a smile appeared on 'her' face. "Can I call you Naruto-kun then?"

He thought about it for a moment before he gave a slight nod. "I guess it's okay."

"Naruto...kun!" the 'girl' said, before squeezing tighter.

Okay, now he could feel a rib shift. "Umm, hey, that's enough," Naruto said as he tried to squirm out of her hold. He was worried about the incomplete knot. It could come loose at any moment and he'd have to start over again. And the water in 'her' clothes was starting to seep into his own jacket. The cold weather wasn't helping in that respect.

Naru-chan probably didn't hear him. 'She' eased up slightly on the pressure, but 'she' wouldn't stop hugging him.

Naruto knew that he heard a soft murmur of "Naruto-kun...so...warm..." He briefly wondered how his counterpart could possibly feel warm when 'she' was covered in wet clothes. He stopped wondering when his double suddenly started to nuzzle his shoulder with a whiskered cheek. He could only sit there in shock before he began praying that this really was a girl on him. Otherwise Urd-san was going to have a field day when she heard about this.

He was finally able to shove 'her' off. Well, off is a bit too much. 'Her' arms were still looped around his neck and 'her' face was still buried in his shoulder. But he was now free to lean forward and finish tying the wire although his position was sort of awkward.

It came from out of the blue again.

"That box that Skuld is building...You'll be gone soon, won't you?" Naru-chan murmured.

Naruto seized both ends of the wire before replying to the odd question. "Ah...I think so. Skuld-chan is working really fast, whatever she's doing should be complete by tomorrow."

"Idiot."

Uh...maybe his counterpart really was a girl. He couldn't quite remember an instance where a guy called him stupid at some random moment. But the girls...Sakura-chan, Nabi-chan, even Skuld-chan...

"Why do you have to go? Why can't you stay here?" she pouted.

"We don't belong here. And I have graduation exams to pass when we return."

"Idiot."

"Why do you keep calling me an idiot?"

"You are an idiot, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Idiot."

"Gaah!" he shouted frustratedly, incidentally letting go of an end of a wire. It unraveled almost immediately and he soon had something else to be annoyed about.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He gave the wire one final tug before giving the blunt blade a light pull to test the quality of his work. Naru-chan winced, but the splint held fast. Satisfied with his work, Naruto started to stand, making sure to duck his head a little so he wouldn't bang it against the low floor of the bridge. "We should head back. Skuld-chan is worrying about us,"

"About you," Naru-chan quietly said.

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"Skuld-chan is going to worry about you. No one will worry about me." the girl replied as she continued to sit on the sloped bank under the bridge.

"That's not tr-." he started to say.

"Well well well," came a smooth silky voice.

The two quickly turned to see a tall black haired man dressed in a Chuunin uniform standing outside and peering in. He was holding a black box to his mouth which Naruto immediately recognized as a walkie talkie. "I found the demon. Look beneath the second crescent moon that wanders over life."

He released the switch and lowered the communication device. "Good job on holding her in one place for us, kid. You can leave now, I'll take it from here." the first nin congratulated.

Thinking fast, Naruto quickly had a palm over his counterpart's mouth. She stopped moving for a moment.

"Heh..." he started to chuckle. That was when his hand cried out in agony. 'Goddangit Naru-chan,' he mentally shouted.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" the other nin impatiently asked.

Naruto grimaced as he forced a grin to his face. "...Screw...you."

Whatever she was doing, she stopped now. He started to breathe a sigh of relief when he felt something close over his hand before something wet started moving along the injury...it felt like a tongue. Was she licking his hand?! 'Agh,' he quietly cried, as the tongue dug right into the wound. She wasn't making it better, she was unwittingly making it hurt more.

The nin was unaware of this drama as he angrily shouted, "What?!" before taking a menacing step forward. Naruto looked up, his pains forgotten for a moment as he eagerly watched.

It was the only warning that their attacker got. Frankly, it wasn't enough. **Twang!** "Aaaaaaaaaa...!"

Naruto watched the first nin disappear over the bridge, courtesy of a trap that he had laid earlier. A second shout from behind them soon echoed the first. So the first nin wasn't alone! He smiled, at least there was some good from setting overkill traps. He suddenly felt an evil glare from behind him and he quickly turned to look. Narrowed eyes were glaring at him while a small mouth was clamped over his wounded hand. There was a pwah sound as he ripped his hand right out of her mouth.

She spat into the water before using the back of her hand to wipe her lips. "Those were meant for me, weren't they?" she finally asked her voice was low, no-nonsense.

Naruto only had to look at the blood flowing from deep teeth marks in the meaty part of his hand to find the strength to match her glare with one of his own. "You bit me!" he accused.

Instead of falling back, his counterpart turned up the intensity of her glare. He easily upped the ante by narrowing his eyes and glaring even harder.

This continued for a few more seconds. Then the two were forced to stop when they heard a branch crack loudly as something heavy landed ungracefully on it. It was time to go. Naruto quickly shoved his hand into the water and hissed in pain. It wasn't a serious wound and it would heal soon...but he was still going to give Naru-chan a piece of his mind when this was all over.

"Come on. We have to get out of here before the reinforcements arrive." He said as he stood up. He reached down to help the girl stand. She nodded as she reached up and took his hand.

Naruto watched the girl wince as she set a bit of weight onto her bad ankle. Taking her right arm, he looped it around his neck and began walking forward hastily, the girl limped along as best she could her face contorted in an agonized expression. She refused to do more than whimper from time to time since this wasn't the time to be complaining about a little pain.

Just when they cleared the bridge's shadow, several nins jumped into view and the two children were soon surrounded.

There was a hiss of surprise from one of their attackers. Soon echoed by the others.

Someone finally stated the obvious. "There are two of them!"

The two children shrunk back when the murderous intent directed at them seemed to double.

Before the attackers could attack, someone was screaming, "What's the demon doing!?"

A slip of paper that looked like an explosive tag took that moment to lazily settle down between Naruto's feet.

There was a clipped **pyu!** And then a loud boom erupted from the paper tag.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He looked around and noted the one hundred percent success rate. Good, these nin had never encountered these notes before. The lucky ones had been those that were thrown against the trees and immediately rendered unconscious. Those that weren't were either stumbling blindly around the clearing or crying in panic since they were blinded and deafened.

It wasn't anything a little time couldn't fix, but Naruto was pretty certain he had just upped the ante in a high stakes game. Best to get out of here now before they recovered and decided to kill first before gloating. He turned to the girl that he was supporting and groaned in dismay.

"What was that?!" the girl cried. "Why can't I see anything!" Glazed sky blue eyes were darting wildly left and right in panic.

"Concussive flash note. It'll wear off," Naruto hastily whispered as he started to pull her out of the area.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I think I can see again," he heard the delirious girl mumble. "See, that's a tree. And there, that's a large rock."

Naruto immediately stopped walking when he heard her. She should have recovered her sight some time ago, especially with Kyuubi healing her. She hadn't realized this yet because her eyes had remained closed for a while now. So when she started seeing objects that he was walking towards, he instantly knew that something was wrong.

Quickly remembering what Iruka-sensei said about Genjutsu, Naruto hurriedly covered his counterpart's mouth.

At least, that's what it appeared that he was doing. In reality he was striking her lips with a hand. She reflexively bit down and the pain that suddenly shot up his limb broke the illusionary trap. A quick glance at the new scenery horrified him. They hadn't moved an inch from the spot where he had used his flash concussive note! His tag had missed someone!

He quickly shook his head. This wasn't the time to lament over a bad miss. They couldn't afford to have another illusion cast on them. And the only way was to get out of the genjutsu specialist's line of sight. He quickly pulled his counterpart toward the bridge, paying careful attention to his senses in hopes that he could fight off anymore illusionary attempts before he reached the bridge.

There was a groan from one of their prone attackers. It wouldn't be long before they were battle ready again. Especially since he had spotted an unconscious medic-nin among the bodies.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

What would later be known as the Seige on the Bridge at 1630 was perhaps one of the most tragic tales in Konoha history. On the day of Konoha's victory over Kyuubi 12 years ago, 7 Konoha nin ranging from Genin to Chuunin surrounded a small concrete bridge for pedestrians, underneath of which were a pair of children. The children themselves were also ninja, but they weren't even out of the academy yet. A pen was poised on the edge of the history books, ready to record the death of the demon that had terrorized Konoha for twelve long years.

_Seige on the Bridge begins at 16:30_

Naruto's breathing was heavy as he struggled to figure a way out of this situation. His trap kit lay open next to him, but there wasn't enough equipment inside to reinforce their position from that many nin. He looked at his counterpart who was still delirious...

He gave her a swift kick to the side, eliciting a yelp from the girl.

Naruto suddenly found himself hauled forward by the collar of his jacket. "You..." the girl started, her voice cold and sharp and her sky blue eyes almost glowing in the dim light.

...his counterpart was immobile but she wasn't delirious anymore, he amended as he desperately waved a hand in her face to catch her attention before pointing outside. She finally turned to look. Seconds later, he was free of her clutches and watching as she frantically scrabbled against the concrete wall nearby as if trying to make a small hole under the bridge to hide in.

He watched her antics with grim amusement before he checked his pockets to see how many special notes he had left. 2 concussive, and 1 flash concussive. But now that the nin outside knew what to expect, these weren't going to work without a good plan.

As far as weapons go, he only had a pair of practice Kunai left. The third one...he quickly looked at his counterpart's ankle.

In short, their situation was an impossible one.

And they had minutes at most before the medic outside finished fixing up and reviving the hostile nin.

Even now, he could see them gathering outside, leering under the bridge and licking their lips in anticipation of their long-sought revenge.

Naruto suddenly turned to the right when he felt someone tug on his sleeve. He stared into the dull eyes of the girl that was now sitting next to him. Yes! It was a hopeless situation but he was happy to see that another would be willing to fight with him to the end.

His hopes came crashing down moments later when he heard her break the serious silence. "Naruto-kun...If I don't make it, I want you to have my apartment," she quietly whispered with a downcast expression.

Why was it so hard to keep the girls happy these days? "Don't say that Naru-chan." Naruto said as he started to put an arm around her shoulder.

He nearly leapt back when the girl knocked his arm away and looked fiercely at him. "But if you die, I want your Skuld-chan."

"No way!" he immediately disagreed. At her indignant look, he explained. "Skuld-chan is free to go wherever she wants. You only get her if Skuld-chan wants to go with you." She looked like she didn't understand, and neither did he, but he felt it was the right thing to say.

"Come out, come out, little demons," someone taunted from outside. The two ignored him.

"What happens if we both live?" he decided to ask.

"We're going to compete in a ramen eating contest at Ichiraku's," she replied with a grin.

His promise to the old man was accomplished! Yes! And then inspiration struck him like a bolt of lightning. He turned to grin at her with a foxlike expression, "Let's not die then." He found himself saying as he reached forward to take her hand.

She must have thought that he was just going to draw some strength and support from her because she reached forward as well. She was so wrong.

**Chink. Chink.**

"Hey!" she shouted as he handcuffed her. He quickly gave her a hard push. As she fell backwards, he was on his feet, hunched over, and moving to the exit.

**Clunk. **

He mentally shrugged when he heard the handcuffs fall to the ground. He probably shouldn't have left the key in plain sight. But the restraints served their purpose he thought as he straightened up. He had just cleared the underside of the bridge and could now stand tall and confront the crowd.

"You want a piece of me?" he found himself shouting at the assembled attackers.

"Oh, we want many many pieces of you," one of the nin mocked. Several of them raised various sharp implements of death. He gulped as he slowly moved into an attack stance.

He never finished, because halfway through, he was diving out of the way as a sword flashed where his head used to be. Turning so that he was on his back, he pointed to the sky and screamed, "Oh my god! Run for it! The sky is falling." With that, he tried to roll to his feet so that he could run away. He soon found himself on his back again as someone kicked him back to the ground.

"Heh, demons are getting stupid these days. What crock. The sky is falling." he heard someone say as he raised his sword. There was a chorus of chuckles as the sound of footsteps approached. Naruto covered his head.

-o-o-o-o-o-

**Thud! **

The other 6 nins watched in surprise as the last shinobi to speak was suddenly bowled over by a large heavy object.

"What the hell! Is that a bowl of ramen?" pointed out a particularly fat nin. He was the next one to kiss dirt when several large bowls crashed into his skull and back. He started to pick himself up when a supersized bowl drove his head several centimeters into the earth spilling wet noodles and hot broth in the process.

"S#!t! Incoming!" one of the remaining members shouted while pointing upwards at the rapidly graying sky.

His warning marked the beginning of an unholy rainstorm.

Amidst the chaos, a small blond boy was forgotten. Rolling to his feet, Naruto tried to dash for the bridge. Several steps in, a rather large bowl chose that moment to strike him on the head. White stars flared into his vision as he fell and skidded half a meter to rest on his side. He gasped as he another heavy bowl landed on his ribs. He could almost hear the bone break as breathing suddenly became more difficult.

He gave a weak glance at the safe spot beneath the bridge...it was so close. So very close...he weakly reached out.

Another ramen bowl slammed into his shoulder. He bit his tongue in a silent scream as he felt it dislocate. So this was how it was going to end...defeated by his own creations. Damn you ramen, damn you!

Small hands suddenly grasped his outstretched hand. The last thing that he saw before his eyes closed was a clear brilliant blue...like the sky on a wonderful day.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto gasped as he sprung awake. Aside from a phantom headache, a small pain in his side, a sore arm, and a throbbing tongue...he felt alright.

He looked to the left to see his counterpart slowly pushing herself up off the ground. She groaned as she used a hand to feel her forehead.

"What the heck was...mmf?!"

Naruto had a hand over her mouth as he looked around.

The storm of ramen had stopped, and the field of steaming noodles and broken pottery that had littered the ground when blackness claimed him had all disappeared. All that was left was the grass and concrete that had been here before. And the clouds in the sky were white and high in the sky again. It was as if whatever he had done had never happened in the first place.

Naruto quickly tallied the bodies. 5, 6...7! It looks like he got all of them. "Hee hee. I'm too awesome," he cheered while posing stiffly.

He had forgotten that one of his hands were used to cover someone else's mouth.

She took the brief moment of freedom to shout, "What did you...mmf?!"

It's a good thing Naruto recovered quickly.

"Shh! We have to go before they wake up," Naruto quietly insisted as he removed his hand from her mouth before looping one of her arms around his shoulder to support her. The two hurried from the area.

By the time the 7 woke up from their forced nap, the two children were long gone. Even if their target was the all-powerful demon fox and they were only Chuunin and lower, it was so tragic how a large group of Konoha nin could mess up such an easy job that the pen on the history book painstakingly inscribed each and every name, their nicknames, and every alias they would ever come to be known by. They were going to be mocked for a long long time to come.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto suddenly doubled over in laughter.

His female counterpart looked at him in surprise. "Are you happy that we're going to die soon?"

"Haha heh No! Hahaha I was haha just hahaha thin-ow!" Naruto glared at his alternate as he rubbed his arm. For a small girl she hit hard!

"Just spit it out already dattebayo," Naru-chan said impatiently. After his last heroics, she was more willing to listen to him...somewhat, but he was still annoying! Even she was never this annoying, she immediately added in her head.

"I was just thinking about what you said, about you being a macho violent..."

A blond eyebrows lifted slightly. "Care to finish that?"

"Well..." Naruto started chuckling nervously, "I was just thinking that maybe you're that way naturally, and it's not because of a tough life."

"So I'm naturally a tomboy?" she asked as she made a fist and waved it angrily at him. She wasn't going to hit him though! Being called a tomboy was tons better than freak or demon.

But Naruto didn't know that, and to save his hide he immediately tried out a new attack that he had made up on the spot. "Naru-chan." he quickly breathed into her ear.

"Oh!" she stammered in surprise before a nice warm feeling suffused her entire body.

Unfortunately, it was a bit difficult for her to concentrate on the task at hand when she felt so happy, and Naruto nearly fell over as the girl he was supporting suddenly became limp and rather top heavy. Okay...so it wasn't the best defense. Still saved him from a beating though.

His musings were cut short when he heard a voice come from behind. "So! You thought you could steal from us demon?"

Naruto froze before he slowly turned around.

A darker mood suddenly settled over the area, causing Naru-chan to spring back to life as well. "What are they talking about?" she asked quietly when she saw the five white-eyed attackers.

"Misunderstanding," Naruto replied, a storm cloud forming on his face as he remembered Hanabi's betrayal. He turned to the Hyuuga surrounding them. "I don't have time for this. Get lost before I make you regret it dattebayo!"

Naru-chan turned to look confusedly at the boy holding her up. She didn't like the intensity and anger that he had just shown. Not one bit. She was just starting to see the boy as a hero, and heroes didn't act like that.

The Hyuugas didn't see a hero. They just saw a pair of children that they wanted to crush.

"Byakugan," two of them said as they prepared for battle. The other three just assumed a Jyuuken stance, their bloodline already active.

Naru-chan noticed motion in the corner of her eye. It appeared to be a single sheet of paper floating to the floor. She immediately shut her eyes.

Moments later, her vision briefly went red as a clipped **Pyu **erupted from out of nowhere. There were several cries of pain before a loud **Booom! **drowned out the shouts for a brief instant. After hearing several thuds which she dearly prayed were the sounds of bodies hitting trees, everything was silent.

"You can open your eyes n-," she heard someone start to say before she was suddenly staggering backwards. She opened her eyes to see a palm stab the area where they had just been. The male Hyuuga main house member turned to look at her.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto watched in horror as the Hyuuga immediately leapt at his newest friend.

She was going to die if he didn't do something! His hands automatically formed a seal. A seal for a Jutsu that he had practiced for hours until he finally got it right. He had heard that this was possible...but he had never done it before. But he focused hard on his counterpart as he shouted:

**"****Kawarimi no Jutsu!"**

He felt his chakra latch onto something. And then it started pulling on him. Before he knew it, the world was blurring as he forcefully swapped places with something in an instant. As the vertigo faded away, he saw the Hyuuga's palm approach. _'She's safe,'_ he thought as he tried to move out of the way.

"Ugh!" Naruto grunted as he absorbed the hit. Having sparred with Nabi-chan for some time, Naruto immediately recognized that a strike at that point on his shoulder was neither life threatening, nor disabling. But it was going to hurt.

And that was when he screamed as the pain struck and dark spots filled his vision.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"No!" The Main Branch Hyuuga heard the shout from the background as he dispassionately watched the boy beneath him weakly fall over.

He frowned, knowing that he had missed. He reared up to strike again, only to feel a sudden bone jarring thud to the back of his head. Stars filled his vision. Growling, he quickly scanned his surroundings with his bloodline to find the one responsible for throwing that rock. He found her sitting right behind him.

"You bastard," the girl shouted angrily when he turned to her. Yes...this was his original target.

He chuckled darkly as he slowly approached. When the look of fear appeared on her face, he knew he was going to enjoy this.

He took a step forward and watched as she scrabbled backwards frantically.

He took another slow step as he savored the moment. She wasn't going to escape. Especially when that tree trunk was in her escape path.

The demon brat gasped as her back hit the tree. Moments later, she was using the rough bark of the trunk as handholds to pull herself up. He stopped when he saw her grin. She was forming a seal for henge? Didn't she know who she was up against? You can't fool Hyuugas with illusions!

He forced a frown on his face to hide his own grin. Let her think she could win, he thought with glee. Then, when he messily ended her life, the shock on her face would be poetic and sweet. He was going to be famous!

"Orioke no Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke enveloped the demon as he leapt forward.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Blood spurt everywhere.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto shrieked as she leapt back right before a large gob of blood landed on her. Her broken ankle failed to land right and she suddenly fell backwards.

Uff!

Sitting up, she grit her teeth and thrust a pair of fingers out. V! For victory. With that, she dropped her ultimate technique and turned to look at Naruto-kun.

He was sprawled on the dirt with a dazed expression on his red face.

She shrugged helplessly before a small smile made its way to her face as she rolled over and crawled up to him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I'm fine," Naruto coughed as he struggled to stand. In truth, he wasn't, Naru-chan's attack was really dangerous.

Before Naru-chan could respond, there was a thump as someone landed behind them. The two were soon sent flying by a strong sudden blow to their back.

Both of them recovered quickly. "Iruka-sensei!" the both shouted when they turned to see who had hit them.

Iruka was staring at his hands with wide eyes. Moments later, he was glaring angrily at the two in front of him as his hands formed the hand seal for cancel.

"Kai!"

Both Narutos remained where they were. Neither of them were a bunshin?

"Which one of you is the real one?" The Chuunin teacher finally demanded.

Naruto immediately knew what his teacher wanted and he again decided to play the part of the hero. Who knew that reading all of those manga would be so dangerous to his health?

"I am!" he shouted as he struggled to stand. Iruka immediately turned to him while pulling something from his holster. The scarred man reared back and prepared to end it with a single strike.

"No, I am!" came another shout from nearby. He turned to glare at his counterpart. _Stay out of this,_ he said with his eyes.

Her eyes said something simpler, _no!_

Iruka slowly lowered the kunai as indecision warred over his face. His face firmed as he leapt forward.

"You both die then," he hissed as he swung his Kunai in a wide arc.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

_Intermission! Take a break! Hit the Next button when you're ready!_


	8. Ch6b: Happy Birthday Part 2

Pages (TNR12) – Part 1( 28 ), Part 2 ( 44 ), Total ( 72 )

_In the previous part of this chapter, Naruto finally discovered that Naruto (AU) was not a boy. Unfortunately, he hasn't had much time to think about what to do with this discovery since they keep jumping into hotter and hotter pots of water. Now they have to fight the super combat king, Iruka Umino._

_Miya and Hanabi would like to help, unfortunately they have their own problems to contend with._

_As for Skuld, she's still searching around Konoha for Naruto (AU)_

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Chapter 6 Part 2: Happy Birthday to Me

Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya, Hanabi, Kyuubi, Naruto (AU), Hanabi (AU), Hiashi (AU)

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

Hanabi finally saw one of them.

"Miya-chan!" she shouted as she leaned forward slightly to see around the taller girl's shoulders. She was rewarded with a strong burst of air in her face that nearly knocked her off. Squinting against the wind, she pointed to a small two story building in the distance and shouted, "That building!"

Miya wasted little time in adjusting her course. Once Miya was running in the right direction, Hanabi stopped pointing and hid her face from the wind again. Without turning to look, because with her bloodline she didn't need to, she reached into her pocket with a free hand and withdrew a small metallic cylinder.

When Miya reached the medium sized house, the green-eyed girl immediately leaped straight into the air and ricocheted right off of a nearby tree. Swiftly twisting around with catlike reflexes, Miya prepared to hit the wall.

Hanabi gasped from the violent tremors when her ride hit the wall of the affluent home with such force that they nearly collapsed it. While they didn't completely destroy the wall, there were a new pair of footholds and handholds that the catgirl immediately took advantage of as she used them to vault up onto the roof. Soon the two were leaping right off of the roof and high into the air.

Once in the sky, Hanabi threw the cylinder as hard as she could.

-o-o-o-o--o-o-o-o-

After a desperate kick from one of the blond kids, the Kunai soared away from the battlefield. In his frenzied state, Iruka didn't notice as he continued to press forward barehanded.

The fight was going as well as could be. Two academy students against a Chuunin. At least Iruka wasn't trying to keep the two apart, as he favored a two birds with one strike approach.

Naruto paused in his attempt to help his counterpart up when a twirling metal cylinder caught his attention as it fell nearby.

The brief moment of inattention cost him as he suddenly found himself clutching his gut as he flew backwards through the air from a brutal punch. His vision turned black as he fell unconscious.

"Naruto-kun!" Naru-chan screamed in terror.

And that was when Iruka suddenly seemed to move twice as fast and hit twice as hard. Naru-chan remained untouched however. The Chuunin was focusing his attacks on the one that he had been looking for. The one whose true identity was unwittingly revealed by its 'friend.'

Naru-chan tried to run after them, but Iruka was just too fast! Before she could reach the body, another brief but strong kick from Iruka sent her otherself limply flying away once again. She desperately tried anyway.

After several seconds, Naru-chan suddenly leapt back as a body nearly crashed into her. Her other rolled to a stop: dirty, battered, and covered with numerous cuts and bruises.

Not wasting any time, she threw herself right onto him.

The sound of footsteps slowly approached. "Get off of it," Iruka coldly ordered.

"Iruka-sensei! Why?!" she pleaded tearfully as she turned her head to look desperately at the scarred chuunin behind her.

"Iruka-sensei?" the man mechanically asked. "Do I know you?" He suddenly shook his head in irritation, "No matter, I'm making sure it never takes another life. Now move brat!" he commanded as he grabbed her shirt and started to pull.

"No no no." she shrieked as she clung desperately to the limp body beneath her.

With one sharp tug, he finally managed to rip her off. Holding her in the air by the back of her jumpsuit, he tossed her to the side before he placed one hand on the demon's shoulder for stability as he prepared to end it.

He suddenly fell to his hands and knees as an unexpected pain shot through his body.

"You..." he angrily said as he turned to look at the one behind him.

Naru-chan was biting the back of his leg hard! Hard enough to break through the pants of his uniform and draw blood.

When she realized she had his attention, she let go, spat, and pointed. "I won't let you take Naruto-kun's life, you monster!"

His eyes widened at the accusation. He moved back slightly so that he had room to point at the demon beneath him. "You don't understand, that's the monster."

"Nuh uh, I'm not falling for your tricks!" the girl shouted as she swung her leg forward as hard as she could. Iruka quickly backhanded the incoming foot with a single hand, turning aside her attack. The girl screamed as pain shot through her leg. She flopped to the ground soon after, clutching desperately at her ankle.

"You'll thank me later," Iruka said as he brought his fist down on the demon's unprotected throat.

His fist froze centimeters from his target. There it shook as Iruka struggled to fight his terror as something awful forcibly pulled his mind back to a time 12 years ago.

He fell forward helplessly as a glowing red figure tackled him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I see..." rumbled a large fox from within a cage. He turned in a large circle before lying down, "...while I appreciate a good story, you interrupted my naptime. Take care of this problem yourself."

"What?! You no good lazy fox!"

"..." The giant fox cracked open an eye. "Why must you request permission to use my chakra?"

"I don't want to steal it!"

"Fine fine, whatever. Now let me rest..."

"Thank you Kyuubi-tousan!" Naruto shouted as he turned around and took a step forward. He disappeared with a pop.

Moments later, the fox was frowning when he felt a sharp tug. This was soon followed by a heavy jerk that nearly bowled him over.

He growled, "The brat is drawing far too much Chakra." Rising to his feet, he started drawing it back.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

One instant, there was a weight on his back. The following instant, there was a dull thud and the weight disappeared. Also gone was the paralyzing fear that had affected him earlier; his nerves would take longer to recover.

Iruka shakily turned to see the action taking place next to him.

It wasn't incredible by any means, but it was somewhat inspiring to see the double, the one he had originally thought was Kyuubi, fearlessly keeping the demon away from him.

He rubbed his eyes. The intense power that leaked off of the double in waves almost seemed visible.

As they exchanged the next set of blows, Iruka's trained eyes immediately noted that whoever the double was, he was the stronger fighter. He possessed more raw power and he slipped around the demon's brawling style with a fighting style reminiscent of the Jyuuken. It was easy to see that the demon's opponent could have finished off the demon within the first fifteen seconds.

Could have, but Iruka noticed that the double refrained from using lethal attacks. And that was why the demon-slayer was losing.

As the fight wore on, the demon's power continued to grow. Soon it was at a level that had Iruka worrying about his chances of defeating the demon once the one protecting him fell. And the double was going to fall, because the demon wasn't trying to get past him anymore. Instead it now wanted to take him down. And the incredible power that had originally dwarfed his opponent's wasn't strengthening with time. It was weakening drastically.

The demon's double was soon falling back since he couldn't shrug off the powerful blows anymore.

And then, to Iruka's shock the kid's guard suddenly disappeared. Iruka immediately tried to stand as a question raced through his mind, what sort of idiot surrenders against a demon?

A stupid one apparently. The demon howled happily as it extended a clawed hand and reached for the unprotected throat.

However, the demon's victim quickly leapt aside and thrust forward. With a single finger! Iruka immediately saw that the double was gambling everything on a single attack! And to his trained eyes, except for the speed, there was nothing special about the attack. It wasn't even positioned in a way that looked useful. In fact, it looked like a...

**...flick.**

Because of the speed of the attack, the double struck the demon between the eyes before the demon had a chance to follow up on its miss.

The demon abruptly froze as its aura flickered out. Then it stared, wide-eyed, at the finger that had struck its nose and was now pointing to a spot between its eyes.

"I win," the demon-slayer calmly said.

Iruka gaped. It was such an unorthodox way of achieving victory that as he was struggling to process how exactly the boy had stopped the demon's rampage for the moment. He was so focused on this task that he completely missed the first part of the following conversation:

"Naruto-kun. What happened?" Naru-chan asked in confusion as she pushed the offending finger away.

Naruto took a deep breath before he held up three fingers. "Okay, listen up. This is important." He saw his counterpart perk up when she heard this.

"Listening."

"Naru-chan," he said, and a grin appeared on her face, "you're a container." The grin dropped like a rock.

Iruka was surprised as well. Having caught the tail end of the conversation, he knew that whoever leaked the S-class secret to that kid was going to be in serious trouble. A nearby bush shook, causing the academy teacher to immediately turn and regard it suspiciously. He hadn't felt a trace of wind recently.

Before he could investigate, he heard the demon cry, "What?!" He filed his suspicions away for later as a more pressing matter occupied his attention. He directed his efforts towards finding the hidden angle behind the demon's fearful look and panicky tone. Surely the double wasn't believing the demon's act for a minute was he?

"You contain a guardian within you," the one who won with a flick clarified.

Now Iruka was wondering about his savior's sanity. _A guardian? What demon contained a guardian within them?_

Apparently, the demon was just as skeptical. "Why hasn't he guarded me before?"

"Probably sleeping, the lazy fox."

Iruka immediately pulled out another kunai as he prepared to carry out the Sandaime's law. It didn't matter if the boy tried to protect him from the demon, he had just broken the law.

Before he struck, however, he saw the demon leap at the boy.

And his mind instantly made the connection. The demon had been pretending to be scared and confused to hide its true identity. With the boy's indirect revelation it had to ensure that its identity remained hidden. Iruka tensed as he prepared to battle the demon once it murdered its double.

Except it didn't rend the boy from limb to limb upon having its identity revealed. Instead, it continued its act by grabbing him and shaking him violently while crying, "Fox?!"

Iruka was just as confused as the demon. He was so sure that his conclusion was right. Where did he make a wrong assumption? Why wasn't the demon acting like he expected? Could it be that the demon was still confident that the boy didn't know enough to make the connection?

"Contained within you is a guardian spirit that is known as the demon fox Kyuubi."

There, it was out in the open. The demon was now aware that the boy knew who it was. Iruka waited with baited breath. Waited for the demon to rip the boy apart.

He was disappointed, because all the demon did was shake its head to disagree before a wide grin filled its face. "Silly, I won't fall for that. Even I know that the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi twelve years ago!"

The boy chuckled. "The fox would be on his back and laughing if he heard you say that."

Iruka was confused. The demon was a good actor, but the bewildered look that suddenly formed on its face was so realistic that he started wondering if the demon had lost its memory.

The demon-lookalike continued, not noticing the stunned expressions on his audiences' faces. "The only time the Fourth truly defeated Kyuubi was 14 years ago when he found himself facing an extremely smart fox in a game of go. When the fox ran off, he found an important scroll on theory where the fox had been sitting."

With that, Iruka's eyebrows rose to his hairline when he saw a blue sphere begin to coalesce in the boy's palm. It broke apart before it could fully form.

That was extremely advanced chakra manipulation. It also looked very familiar.

"Whatcha think?" The demon's opponent happily asked. "I read the same scroll too. This is as far as I got, but I think I can turn it into a shield once I have enough chakra."

He saw the stunned expression on the demon's face. His grip tightened on the kunai in his hands. The demon was now going to demand that the stranger teach it how to manipulate chakra like that. It looked like a powerful technique and he knew that the demon would wish to learn another way to destroy things.

"But the Yondaime!"

Iruka immediately sucked in a large breath. He didn't know how many more surprises he could take before he lost it.

The demon's double had a thoughtful expression on his face. "The Yondaime couldn't defeat the demon. At least that's what Ojisan says." He looked like he didn't believe it for a minute.

"Who's your Ojisan?" the demon asked. Iruka leaned forward as well. They were about to discover who was responsible for telling this loose-lipped child too much. For the trouble that the old man caused, he was going to take great pleasure in watching the fool die.

"That's not important." the boy said as a grin appeared on his face.

_Not important?! _The scarred Chuunin furiously thought.

"What is though, is that the Fourth died to seal the fox into you," the boy continued as he pointed at the demon's belly. He was comfortably oblivious to Iruka's angry thoughts.

Iruk turned to the demon to see how it would take the news.

The demon's bangs shadowed its eyes. "So it's true...I'm a demon," it quietly said. Iruka tensed, the demon had just admitted to recovering its memories. However, instead of the evil aura flaring up again, a depressed feeling seemed to blanket the area.

He couldn't take these surprises anymore. The demon was guilty! It was just waiting for the right time before it was covered in their blood! Why was he waiting to see it slip up? Why did he have to suffer these constant ups and downs just to be proven right?

Instead of acting on his wishes, he continued to wait and see what happened. The double poked the demon in the forehead and said, "No you're not. You're a container."

_A container..._

"But..." the demon started to protest.

"Have you killed anyone?" the demon's mirror image interrupted.

_Has it?_

"No, but..." the demon started to say. _It hasn't?_

"You don't get odd thoughts of killing do you?" its double bravely interrupted once again.

_Did it?_

The demon appeared frustrated. "No! But..." _It doesn't?_

"Do you wish to destroy Konoha?"

_She would be justified... _

Iruka paused. Did he just have a traitorous thought? Was this the demon's game? In moments, he was slowly shaking his head, to clear it. No. Even he knew when he was thinking too much.

"No!!" it shouted before it angrily twirled its hair. "Agh! Let me finish!"

_...Is this really a demon?_

"No." the boy immediately replied as he shook his head. "There's no need to find a reason why you're a demon cause you aren't," he continued.

"Still..." the demon looked troubled.

Things suddenly became clear as a different perspective made itself known. Iruka suddenly understood why his conclusions had been wrong almost from the start. They were right, but it...it...sh!#...shi...She! She! She wasn't a demon. She was a container. A scared container that was finally told the truth. And just like that, his anger found a different target.

This boy. Because of this boy, this girl's life would never be the same again.

She was looking down sadly. "What should I do now? I wanted to be a Hokage." she said in a hopeless tone of voice.

"Yo, you're still thinking that you're a demon?" the boy asked irritatedly.

Iruka didn't know what to think, but he didn't want to be a bystander anymore. He took a step forward as he found himself saying, "Get out then. Konoha has no place for demons."

The two jumped. It looks like they had forgotten he was there. He saw the surprised look on the girl's face start to fall right after.

The boy noticed as well. "You bastard! Naru-chan isn't a demon!"

"You're right." Both of the children looked at him in confusion. "She isn't. She's a container." He turned to the blond girl and reached forward, "I think you'll be a great Hokage." His hand came to a rest on her shoulder and he gave a light squeeze, "Naruto."

Tears filled her eyes. "T-Thank you Iruka-sensei. I'll be the best one yet, I promi-"

The two suddenly looked up when a scream broke through the air.

"Miya-chan!" The boy cried as he looked to the right. He immediately ran off leaving the two behind.

Iruka gazed at the shorter blond girl for a moment. She had a pleading look on her face as she pointed down at her ankle.

An eyebrow rose slightly, she was still standing despite the pain?

..Naruto. He was going to remember that name. It was definitely going to be important later. Who knows, he might eventually be friends with the de...no, not demon, container later. But for now...the best he could do was lend her his aid.

Iruka nodded as he slowly scooped her up and together they followed after the boy.

-o-o-o-o-o-

- Hidden in the surrounding foliage -

The other nin watched the three leave. Once the three left the clearing, the hidden group stood up to follow.

However, the Third had a hand upraised indicating that he wanted them to stop and listen.

"Hokage-sama!" they protested. Time was wasting.

Sandaime dearly wished he could smoke his pipe right now, however...in order to remain hidden...

"I wish for Hatake-san, and Sarutobi-san to accompany me. Tori, Buta, and Neko. Clean up the area and bring the unconscious to Ibiki for interrogation. The others, return to your posts. In their drunken stupor, the civilians may do things that they may regret later. I need you to be there to keep them under control."

The nin had their orders. The three watched as the other nin disappeared.

The Hokage then left the bushes to slowly follow after the boy, the two behind him soon matching the old man's unhurried pace.

-o-o-o-o--o-o-o-o-

Several minutes ago...

"Head that way Miya-san," Hanabi ordered as she leaned forward slightly to point. She was tracking six pursuers with her Byakugan, and they were moving to surround the two. There was a large opening, rapidly closing, that Hanabi was directing Miya towards in hopes of foiling the enemy's plan.

Once Miya changed her direction, Hanabi ducked again to protect her sensitive eyes from the fast flying dust particles.

Hanabi's plan to break free of the circle failed dramatically. Not because of a flaw in the plan, but because of a limitation.

Combat mode had one serious problem, it generated a lot of heat. While her ears took care of most of the cooling, Naruto hadn't found a way to shunt all of the heat away from Miya's internal systems. So whatever heat couldn't be vented would slowly build up over time. Eventually, when her internal systems became too hot, they deactivated until the extra temperature disappeared. To the outside observer, Miya looked like she was suffering from exhaustion. And when one is exhausted, many things can happen.

Miya tripped.

That was how the six found the two. One girl gasping desperately for air as she laid facedown in the ground while the other was slowly getting up after flying two or three meters in the air before crash-rolling several times through the dirt.

The ninja in the lead nodded to the other 5.

"Let me go!" Hanabi shouted as she was suddenly seized by two of the group.

Four of them, including the leader, slowly approached Miya's helpless body.

Hanabi watched in horror as one of the branch members struck downwards toward a tenketsu point behind the heart. The body beneath them promptly stilled.

"Miya-san!" she shrieked wildly as she redoubled her efforts to break free and run over to her friend. She slowly stopped struggling as her eyes slowly closed and her breathing calmed.

The others turned briefly to glare at the one who had used the sleep Jutsu. Their glares quickly turned to smiles as they noticed how quiet their prize had become. Nodding in acceptance, the entire group turned around to leave.

There was a strange sound, like someone speaking into the dirt.

"Didn't you kill her?" One of them asked. Her Byakugan was still active and she was watching as the girl on the ground was slowly pushing herself off the ground.

"What?" the one that she was referring to asked before he answered, "Yes," with a confused look. He turned with the 4 others to see what she was looking at. They almost couldn't hide their panic.

"I said, let Miss Hanabi go!" Miya quietly said from her crouched position. Her usual high-pitched happy-go-lucky voice was replaced by a deeper growling one. The anger in her voice was palpable. She bared her teeth at Hanabi's captors to scare them.

When there was no move on their part to obey...

"I won't let you take Miss Hanabi!" the catgirl shouted as the pair of cat ears once again shot outwards and the girl sprang from her crouched position and charged at superhuman speeds.

If it weren't for a quick-thinking Hyuuga leaping directly into her path, they would have lost Hiashi-sama's daughter to the freak of nature. There was a grunt as the two collided violently. The hero couldn't hold Miya for long though. In moments, he was on the ground and covered with footprints as the insane abomination scrabbled forward in its attempt to take back Hiashi-sama's daughter.

"Get Hanabi-sama out of here," the leader ordered as he charged in with the remaining 2. All three of them tackled Miya. Not the most elegant way to slow someone down, but since the Gentle Fist had proven ineffective...more primitive means were necessary.

"Miss Hanabi! I'll save you!" the pink haired girl cried as she struggled to climb out from under the pile of bodies. A hopeful smile appeared on the sleeping girl's face as the distance between the two rapidly increased.

Seconds later...

"Gyaah!"

...a loud scream of pain rent the air.

-o-o-o-o-o-

An explosion erupted nearby. The Hyuuga stopped what they were doing to look around for the cause. They didn't find anyone. Worried, they quickly disappeared, their job left unfinished.

Naruto slowly stepped out from behind a barrel to survey the scene. His heart leapt to his throat when he caught sight of the pile of metal parts.

"Miya-chan!" He screamed as he made his way over to the messy pile of metal. He nearly threw up when he saw the head. Her beautiful hair was ripped away, revealing large patches of metal in her scalp. Metal components sparked from the badly severed neck. And there was a glazed look in what used to be lively green eyes. Red fluid leaked from the corner of the android's mouth as it moved slowly, forming silent words to all who cared to see.

The two tagalongs also gazed horrified at the head. Since they were less emotionally involved with the girl on the floor, their disgust was for a different reason. In the ninja world, if it was dead it didn't move. To see a head continue to do this was frightening and unreal. It was obvious they didn't understand the wires protruding from the neck.

Nevertheless, It didn't matter who...all three were going to have nightmares of this for some time to come.

Naruto couldn't lip read, but he knew a way to hear what the girl was saying, even if her mouth was forcefully disconnected from her lungs and voicebox. "Designate mode Test Alpha with authorization from creator...ID 3-4-2-9." The mouth stilled. He waited for a moment. "Activate." There was a short pause before a small speaker activated within Miya's head.

The result was a tinny synthetic voice that came from within. "Mr. Naruto? It hurts...I can't see anything...why can't I see anything? It's too dark. I'm scared...I don't want to play this game anymore...please stop...I'll be good...I promise..."

_She was still alive..._

Naruto surveyed her remains as the head continued whimpering. Before long, his bangs shadowed his face as he sadly reached forward and held a button inside of the exposed neck.

The head formed a small twitchy smile "It stopped hurt-ing. Thang-Thank-yu...Misss-terr...Na...Naru...t-" The voice slowly died away as the glow in her eyes disappeared.

-o-o-o-o-o-

He didn't cry. Instead, he glared at the two that had followed him.

"Find all of the parts that you think belong to Miya-chan and bring them to me. Get going now!"

Iruka straightened up and crossed his arms before frowning downwards. It didn't take much to see that he wasn't going to take an order from some punk kid.

"C'mon Iruka sensei," Naru-chan quietly said, tugging slightly on the taller man's arm.

As the two set about picking up the components scattered about...many of which looked remarkably like human organs...Naruto pulled on a pair of gloves from his pocket, pulled out a portable toolset, and set to work. He didn't have much time.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Naruto!" Skuld shrieked as she looked at all the red covering the boy in the abandoned district.

"Shut up! I can't concentrate if you keep saying useless things Sk-" Naruto's head popped up. "Skuld-chan!" He quickly turned to the girl standing behind him silhouetted by the dark shadows of the alleyway. "Help!"

Taking in his dirty sweat covered face and the small object beneath him, Skuld quickly pulled a pair of gloves out of her pocket and put them on. She stepped into the light to have a better look to see what could worry her friend this badly. Skuld sucked in a quick breath before asking, "Is that Miya-chan? What happened to her?"

Naruto suddenly eeeped as he struggled to suck in his next breath. Skuld-chan's innocent question made him realize that this wasn't just one of her inventions that he had broken. This...this was one of his best friends! Her life depended on him! He should have worked harder because her face was becoming paler by the second. Miya-chan was going to die on his watch dammit!

"Diagnosis," Skuld snapped as she crouched next to him. The sharp tone of voice sliced through the haze surrounding his thoughts. He turned to his best friend with a serious look on his face.

"I've been trying so hard! But I can't stop Miya-chan's bleeding! It's horrible! We don't have that sparky joiny thingy and I don't have anymore fake skin!" he quickly reported.

Skuld calmly patting an oversized lab coat to smooth out the wrinkles. Strangely, she hadn't been wearing it half a minute ago.

She finally looked Naruto in the eyes for a moment before calmly saying, "I believe that you're telling me that there's nothing more you can do right now, but you're hoping that I can perform a miracle, correct."

At his worried nod, Skuld reached over and put a gloved hand on his head.

"Naruto, you've come a long way, if I had a test to give you, you would easily be an expert mechanic," Skuld said with a small smile.

"But you're not at my level yet," Skuld bragged as she deftly reattached a loose hose and the blood flow lessened dramatically. "Now that that's taken care of," Skuld distractedly said as she rummaged through her lab coat's spacious pockets, "we'll have to set her aside," she pulled out a small box. Pushing a button on the side caused it to expand to dimensions that were slightly larger than the head sitting between the two.

"Ah! The time freeze box! Why is Skuld-chan using that?" he demanded. They both knew what she intended to do with it, and it rankled him that his best friend wasn't doing more to help Miya-chan.

There was a frown on her face, but she met his betrayed gaze without flinching. "How many times do I have to tell you that it's not called a time-freeze box Naruto? Don't worry. Because of your efforts, Miya-chan will be alright. Now, I need you to think for a moment."

"I am thinking! You're not helping Miya-chan because you're being lazy again!"

Skuld shook her head no, "Why would Miya-chan be here in the first place Naruto?"

"She was sucked into the dimensional portal too."

"No. She couldn't have been anywhere near the kitchen when you went in."

"Then maybe she opened the cupboard while she was searching for us."

"Think about what you just said. Why would she open the cupboard when there was a sheet of paper on the kitchen table saying 'Don't open it?'"

"Maybe Miya-chan was searching for us again and she didn't see your message on the table!" Naruto quickly devised. But he knew as well as Skuld that Miya-chan probably did see the message. If she was taller than the object in question, the pink-haired girl usually looked over something before she flipped it over to look underneath.

"Maybe. But what if there was someone else in the house who would disregard my instructions," Skuld conceded. Naruto was starting to see where his best friend was going with this. They both knew that while the android would ordinarily follow instructions...the classic textbook definition of a good girl...if someone else broke the rule, then Miya-chan's natural curiosity would overtake her law-abiding nature.

At Naruto's nod, she continued. "Now who else do we know that has access to our apartment but doesn't follow rules half as well when her father isn't around?"

"Nabi-chan?" he guessed.

"Correct. Where's Hanabi, Naruto?"

He shook his head indicating that he didn't know.

A grim expression appeared on her face. "That's why Miya-chan has to be taken care of later. I know she won't be happy about it, but she'll understand that we need to find and protect Hanabi before we can take the time to repair her body."

"I don't like it," Naruto sulked.

"Don't Naruto. It shows that you have a heart," Skuld quietly said as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Eh! You're not being heartless Skuld-chan!" Naruto quickly said as he placed his hand on hers.

"I'm sacrificing Miya-chan because as long as we have her brain, she isn't dead. How heartless is that?" Skuld said as she tried to pull her hand away.

Naruto wouldn't let her. "No," he said as he shook his head violently. He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes before he continued. "Don't try to steal the blame. It's not just your responsibility Skuld-chan. It's mine too. I won't remain here to help Miya-chan while you're out search-"

A large pile of parts suddenly landed next to them.

"It took some doing, but we even managed to pick up the buried stuff." the Naru-chan announced before she held up a small shiny object. "Does this belong to Myachan."

Naruto distractedly looked at the object in his counterpart's hand before he turned back to his best friend. "Skuld-chan..."

The black hair girl nodded as she pulled the lid off of the box. Naruto's eye twitched as he picked up up Miya-chan's head. He carefully leaned over and placing it inside of Skuld's special box. With the push of a button, a blue wavey light covered the head.

Naruto gave one more look at Miya's pale face before he carefully replaced the lid.

Pressing another button, Skuld shrunk her time stasis box before hiding it away.

The two stood up before heading for the exit to the large steel warehouse.

Naru-chan and Iruka were confused. "Wait! What about Myachan?" The girl shouted, before she limped after them.

"We have something more important to do now," Naruto said, wincing as he said the harsh words.

"But what about these parts?" Naru-chan asked, not wanting to see her work go to waste.

"Leave them," was the curt reply.

"What? But there are scavengers in this area," she argued.

Naruto stopped and turned around. "Oh. yeah." Giving Skuld-chan a nod to say that he'd catch up in a bit, he turned around and walked back.

She watched as he bent down and took something from the pile before pulling something from his pocket and setting it down.

She snapped her fingers as she suddenly remembered seeing him pick up that metallic cylinder from the ground after their fight with Iruka. A small green light began blinking on the cylinder.

"Let's go," the boy shouted as he started to run away.

"But..."

"Hurry!" he shouted. Were those tears in Naruto-kun's eyes?

She didn't listen, instead limping back to the pile to gather what she could. That was when the cylinder exploded and she was engulfed in a blue fire.

Instead of worrying about burning to death, she watched as every single part that she had spent time gathering disappeared before her very eyes.

"You jerk!" She screamed as she turned around and started to chase after him, slightly singed but otherwise unharmed.

Unnoticed to all was the kunai supporting her ankle. It was gone.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

After the blue sphere of fire disappeared, Asuma and his father gaped in surprise when they saw the gaping hole in the warehouse. It looked like a giant monster had taken a bite out of half of the warehouse.

Kakashi returned a moment later, empty handed. His attempts to retrieve a part from the pile for study had failed when the blue fire enveloped him. He had watched in surprise as the metal component in his hand had quickly dissolved away.

A further check revealed that metal plate on Hatake-san's forehead protector and every single Kunai that he had been carrying were gone as well. A bomb that ate metal. Horrifying.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi slowly woke up to the sensation of being carried. When the world snapped into focus, she realized that she was inside of the Hyuuga mansion. Inside of the receiving room actually.

"Release me!" she angrily ordered. The ones holding her quickly complied. After dusting herself off, Hanabi turned to leave the room.

"Where do you think you are going, daughter?" came a stern voice. Hanabi immediately turned to see her father kneeling sternly behind her. Hanabi hurried to kneel in front of her father.

There was something very different about her father, but she couldn't put a finger on what.

He looked sternly down at her, and she quickly decided to give a safe answer.

"To my room to prepare for training," she said.

Her father made no move. He just breathed slowly and evenly as he stared at her, studying her.

Did she do something wrong? She fidgeted slightly under the scrutiny.

A mistake. Hiashi's eyes immediately narrowed. "Daughter, what have I told you about showing signs of weakness?" he demanded in a harsh booming voice.

"Never to," she quickly replied before she caught herself, "...father" she added respectfully.

"Then why did you fidget?"

"I-I," she didn't have a response ready. Something was very wrong here.

Chills ran down her spine as his glare narrowed further. "I can see that you have not learned this lesson. We will discuss your punishment later.

Hanabi respectfully bowed her head. "Yes father." she said as she prepared to leave.

"I have not dismissed you."

Hanabi paused and slowly turned back around to face her father. She remained silent.

"You have irresponsibly used clan funds," he coolly said.

Hanabi was confused. Until she realized what the man was referring to. Her kimono.

She bit her lip and craned her head, looking hopefully up at her father. She immediately fought the surprise that wanted to appear on her face. When she looked into her father's eyes, she realized that there wasn't a trace of amusement in them. Was he...angry at her? Why?

"What is the meaning of this."

This time she had a ready excuse, prepared in case her father asked for appearance's sake. Naruto wouldn't have minded having a few more people yelling at him. It bothered her. She had never expected she would need to defend her newest clothing from her father, and not from the council.

She tightened her grip on an orange sleeve of her kimono. "It was for the festival later, father. My old kimono was too small." She knew that even if her father disagreed, he would not have her return it, for the sake of the clan's appearances.

"You will remove your garish clothing and burn it," he ordered. "We will purchase a more acceptable article later."

"..."

It wasn't because the replacement kimono would be made of a cheaper material as punishment for her actions; materials only suitable for peasants. She had long passed that stage. It was the very thought of destroying THIS ONE that made her feel somewhat sick. A feeling of Naruto-like rebelliousness suddenly filled her. She didn't want to disobey her father, but her closet was large, perhaps-

He must have sensed her intentions. "I will be present when you destroy it." It was not a suggestion.

"Yes father," Hanabi weakly said, extremely confused about the current situation.

"Dismissed. Change. We will begin your training in half an hour."

That would also be the time when her new clothing would be destroyed.

Hanabi bowed her head and turned around. She left the receiving room. Once outside, she turned right, and proceeded down the wide corridors.

Something was wrong.

Even if the surroundings were the same, she had a strange feeling that this wasn't her home.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi nearly leapt back when she entered a large room that should have been hers. She looked at a corner. Where were her toys? She looked upon the desk. Where were her books? She turned to the another corner. Who was that?

The figure must have noticed that it had been spotted because it departed from the shadows.

Hanabi gasped. "Who are you?" her mirror-image, clad in a kimono of only whites and blacks, asked.

The one clad in the red, gold, and orange kimono quickly recovered. This was strange, but after being around Skuld and Naruto, she could handle it. She drew herself up to full height. "Hanabi Hyuuga of the main branch house," she replied haughtily.

A devilish grin appeared on the other's face. "What a surprise. That's who I am."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The two stopped within a small grove of trees, one of them was panting heavily while the other only looked slightly tired.

"I think that Naruto is a girl," Naruto suddenly said when he saw his roommate's mental turmoil.

The lost expression on Skuld's face briefly faded away as a perplexed one appeared. "Oh." She quietly murmured before an odd expression replaced the perplexed one, "How did you figure this out before me?" If there was one thing you could count on, it was Naruto being unnaturally thick. To figure this out on his own was nothing short of a miracle.

"Huh? Was she telling the truth?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Skuld sighed as Naruto unwittingly answered how he knew in the first place. She turned and pointed toward a distant wall before she spoke. "Okay Naruto, that seems like the best place to start our search for Hanabi."

The fox container looked troubled. "I dunno Skuld...twice in a week..."

Hanabi's betrayal had struck her friend harder than she thought. "Scared already Naruto?" she taunted.

"No way!" Naruto vocally defended. He started stomping toward the mansion to express his outrage at Skuld's words.

Skuld quickly grabbed his shoulder to stop him as she changed to a different tack, glad that her diversion seemed to be working. "Have you seen our pursuers?"

Naruto stopped and turned to look behind him. "I think we lost them," he said as he turned back a moment later. "At least..." He turned to her with a grin. "...they're not behind us anymore."

"We shouldn't have taken advantage of her broken ankle like that..." Skuld said with a small frown. She could still hear the girl tumble during their escape. Skuld had wanted to turn back and help but, instead of stopping, her roommate had insistently pulled on her arm.

"Did you see how fast Naru-chan was limping WITH a broken ankle? If we didn't run away then, she'd be here with us now," Naruto said with a righteous nod, although there was a small frown on his face. He didn't like leaving her behind either.

Skuld pursed her lips before she gave a slight nod. "You're right. It's too dangerous." There was a short pause. "You're in charge of infiltration while I take care of the information gathering right?" Skuld asked, changing the topic.

Naruto nodded as the two turned to the one-story mansion standing right at the edge of the forest that they were hiding in.

"Nabi-chan's home huh? Hang on, we should move this way a little," Naruto said as he led her farther away from the mansion. "Right here." Naruto noticed that Skuld looked befuddled. "The guards don't usually scan this far on their patrols." he explained as he took a headset from her hand.

"What channel?" he asked, looking up from the headset.

Skuld turned a knob on the headset slightly before reading what was newly displayed. "85.2, I'll let you know if there's a change."

"kay," the blond boy replied, adjusting his headset to match. He put them on and moved a few meters away. "Testing..." he whispered while covering the mouthpiece.

"I can hear you." Skuld's voice came in clearly through the earphones.

"Stay out of trouble then Skuld-chan," Naruto said as he started to head out.

"Wait. Come back," came an urgent whisper.

Confused, Naruto returned to the previous spot to see Skuld waiting beside a small plastic blue box. Contained within were a pair of binoculars, a pair of goggles, and an hourglass shaped object. "These are mine," Skuld said as she took the binoculars and pushed a button on the casing. There was a brief glow. "Good, fully charged."

Naruto took out the goggles and placed them on his forehead. Taking the final object that was about twice as large as a fist, Naruto looked to his roommate.

"Are you sure you want to wear that?" Skuld asked, indicating his orange jumpsuit.

The boy with sunny hair grinned before replying, "they won't see me."

The exiled goddess just shrugged. It made no sense, but he was pretty good at sneaking around while wearing it, so she knew he had to be doing something right. "Okay then. Ready Naruto?"

She watched as Naruto raised the hourglass shaped object and pushed gently on the thin middle section with his thumbs. It split cleanly in two, both halves flashing red for a brief moment before glowing a steady green. He held one half to her. Skuld took it and the two separated to carry out their part of the plan.

- 10 minutes later -

"Skuld-chan," Naruto's voice softly crackled through the headphones. "The extraction point is ready."

"Okay," she whispered from her perch on a tree that was inside the extraction point. She was currently sitting high off the ground and peering directly through the walls of the mansion using her binoculars. "I was right. Hanabi is in the mansion. Both of them actually. One of them is dressed in a plain white Kimono. She's wandering around the hallways near the library. There is another Hanabi dressed in a red Kimono with a purple sash and orange sleeves..."

"Hah! I knew I could get her to wear orange eventually."

"Quiet," she hissed.

"Sorry," came the reply. It didn't sound very apologetic.

"Just" she grit her teeth, "Just get in there."

"I'm already inside."

"Oh." Skuld was silent for a moment. "Okay. She's inside of her bedroom. Can you get there without being spotted?"

"Easy." Naruto said from beneath the trapdoor to the cellar.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi stopped to stare at a blank section of the wall. She thought that she had heard a tapping sound. Moving her hands into a familiar set of seals...

**Byakugan. **

...she activated her bloodline. Then her jaw dropped.

There, behind the wall was Naruto giving her an extremely rude gesture. He then lifted his goggles and proceeded to give her a redeye. She could see him laughing behind the wall as he replaced his goggles and ran off.

That...that...

At least this hallway paralleled that hidden corridor. She took off after him.

Or tried to. Just as she turned to follow, a tall imposing man entered her enhanced sight.

"Father?" the girl asked as her anger instantly disappeared. She immediately covered her face to hide her active bloodline.

"Come, daughter." he ordered as he turned around and took the lead.

She obediently followed along, the veins around her eyes continuing to bulge as her bloodline remained active.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The two met a significant portion of the Hyuuga guards standing right outside of her room. Curious about the heavy security, she looked inside while one of the branch members slowly approached the closed door. She saw Naruto inside of her room and sitting on her bed. So was her double. Feeling a little faint, she slowed the flow of chakra to her eyes and her normal sight soon returned.

"So the guard was right. Someone was impersonating my daughter." Hiashi stiffly said as he peered into the room.

**Byakugan.**

Hiashi's bloodline was soon activated, giving the stern man a menacing look. "The Hokage will not save you this time, boy." he said into the room.

If the boy heard the threat, he sure wasn't scared. "Biiih∼, come closer if you can," Naruto taunted as he jumped on the bed and blew a raspberry.

As one, the group charged into the room. There was a shout and almost everyone turned in surprise to see a guard flying toward the ceiling, courtesy of a rope around his ankle.

That was when a veritable web of ropes and wires flew into the air, entrapping the group.

Because of safe positions, knowledge of his traps, or fast reflexes, both Hanabis, Naruto, and a single guard managed to avoid being ensnared by the trap that had suddenly sprung up from out of nowhere.

"C'mon!" Naruto shouted, as he navigated around the stuck guards while pulling an orange sleeved arm toward the door.

The Hanabi in the white Kimono could only watch helplessly as the two escaped. Pulling a Kunai out of a nearby branch member's holster, she joined the only unrestrained guard in freeing her father.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Thud**

The two blond kids grunted as they collided heavily with each other and fell to the ground.

"What are you doing in here?" Naruto demanded as he leapt to his feet. There was a simultaneous groan from over his headset.

"Following you," the girl said while glaring up at him from her sitting position. "Thought you could escape huh?"

"Get moving! They're going to break free any minute now!" Skuld's voice frantically whispered through his headset.

Hearing the order, Naruto immediately took Hanabi's hand and took off down a side hall, fully expecting his counterpart to get up and follow him.

Outside, Skuld set down her binoculars as a sick look appeared on her face. Something was wrong with the situation in there. Really wrong. She wished that she knew just what it was.

And then she sat up as she remembered something.

"Naruto? Didn't your counterpart have a broken ankle?" she asked, pressing the microphone against her mouth in her worry.

She gasped when she heard the vile curse that followed her question.

"Ah! Sorry Skuld-chan!" Naruto quickly apologized as he turned around. He nearly shrieked and leapt back in surprise when he saw a blond girl waiting impatiently right next to him.

"What happened to your ankle?" he found himself asking.

"It doesn't hurt anymore yo," Naru-chan said with a shrug.

Naruto gaped in surprise.

Before he could comment, a voice came over his headset. "Your nine-tailed friend. I mean hers. Now hurry!"

"C'mon," Naruto said as he ran off. Both girls immediately followed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The stubborn ropes finally fell away. Hiashi took a look around before turning to the only guard that wasn't trapped.

"You will stay here and free the rest." He ordered. Gesturing to his daughter, he gracefully made his way around the ropes as he moved to leave the room.

She followed without question.

The two were soon in the hallway and pursuing the intruders as the guard worked furiously to free his compatriots.

-o-o-o-o--o-o-o-o-

Naruto led them to a fork. Without taking time to pause and choose, he was heading down the right corridor.

"You're heading for a dead end," Skuld said, turning a knob on her binoculars as she made a quick glance ahead.

"Don't worry Skuld-chan, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay..." came the hesitant reply.

Moments later, they arrived at the dead end. Naruto stopped short and the other two girls nearly crashed into him.

"Hinata-chan?!"

"Eh?" The girl in question turned away from the flower that she was examining to see who was behind her. Her eyes widened upon seeing both Narutos. She quickly rubbed her eyes before taking a second look.

She was soon whirling her arms as she struggled to regain her balance as the ground that she was standing on started to shift aside.

"Nabi-chan!" Naruto shouted.

"She wasn't going to move anytime soon," the younger girl said with a careless shrug.

"But she's your sis-!" Naruto started to say.

He was interrupted by a loud, "Incoming! 20 meters." came over his headset.

Naruto gestured toward the hidden escape route. "We have to go. Take care Hinata-chan!"

Hinata watched as the three ran into the darkness. "Be careful Naruto-kun." she quietly said, not knowing which one she was referring to.

Hiashi wasted little time diving in after them, but not without shooting Hinata a look of disgust and disappointment. Her younger sister was less hurried though, as she stopped to stare curiously at the girl.

Hinata fidgeted, uncomfortably aware of the attention from the other girl. "Keep Naruto-kun safe," she finally murmured to the younger one.

Hanabi appeared to struggle internally for a moment..."Sister, I believe in you," the shorter girl finally said as she reached up and gave the older girl's shoulder a light squeeze.

Hinata remained quiet for several moments. "...thank you." she quietly said.

The words fell on deaf ears as a white kimono faded into the dark corridor.

Hinata quietly looked at the dark tunnel for a moment longer before she looked around and reached for the switch that closed the corridor.

A large group of Hyuugas arrived minutes later. The branch house members were finally free and sweeping the mansion for the intruders. "Hinata-sama, have you seen the trespassers?"

Hinata flinched. She immediately shook her head no before backing away timidly.

It seemed almost suspicious.

Instead of investigating however, the guards immediately scattered in all directions as they continued the search, leaving the Hyuuga heir alone in the small hallway alcove.

Her back hit the wall as she sagged backwards in relief. She weakly slid down. "Naruto...kun," she whispered for the first time in her life.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto held the half hourglass out in front of him. Its bright red glow cast plenty of light, making it easy to see in the dark without his goggles.

"We've been here already," Naru-chan impatiently said.

"What? No we haven't!" Naruto vehemently denied.

"Yes we have..." Naru-chan trailed off, not willing to argue with him for some strange reason.

The three of them were running aimlessly one level beneath the Hyuuga mansion. It had been this way ever since they had entered the maze-like emergency escape tunnels. It got to the point where the dark tunnels held up by wooden poles and rotting wooden walls all started to look the same.

It would be so useful if Skuld-chan could keep track of their position, but her binoculars had run out of power a few minutes ago.

If only his invention glowed green, they wouldn't need to find the exit!

And just like that the red suddenly flickered, and before their very eyes, the half hourglass started glowing a pale but steady green.

Naruto silently cheered. "Skuld-chan, we need you to place the exit."

There was an "okay," from the other end before he heard grunts coming from over the headset as Skuld climbed down from a tree that she was sitting on.

Before Naruto could place his half against the wall, he felt someone push him hard from behind. Stumbling, he turned to see who was responsible.

A white-garbed Hanabi stood in his previous spot with Hiashi not too far behind.

"Cease your foolish actions now." The older man ordered.

Naruto immediately pulled out a training Kunai and threw it at the small girl. Hiashi reached forward and caught the flying object between two fingers just as it reached his daughter's arm. "Are you so brave that you risk your life twice?" the man asked as he carelessly threw the blunt shuriken aside. However, Naruto's intent wasn't to hit either of them, it was to distract the two so he could toss the half hourglass behind him, towards his Hanabi, the only other person who knew how to use it.

"Naruto, the exit is read-"

"I'm a bit busy right now Skuld-chan," Naruto quickly said into his headset.

He heard a small "okay." as he pulled his goggles over his eyes. Without the hourglass to provide light to see by, he needed another way to see in the dark.

The instant his goggles activated, Hiashi appeared in full view, however that was the only opponent that he saw. Where was the other Hanabi? When the sounds of combat started echoing through the long narrow hallway, he knew where she had disappeared to. But how did she get past him?

The answer came to him when he heard Naru-chan's confused sound from behind.

"Bunshin?!" the startled girl asked.

Hiashi took that cue to begin a slow approach. Naruto immediately froze. There was no way he could beat the older man in combat.

**Bunshin no Jutsu! **The echoing in the tunnel made it difficult to tell where the shout had come from.

Hiashi immediately paused. Curious, Naruto pulled off his goggles to see why.

A sickly clone was on the ground and desperately reaching forward for something. A sickly BLOND clone that was wearing an ORANGE jumpsuit. He was filling in those colors because it was too dark to actually tell, but one look and he knew just who was responsible for the clone.

"Stay out of this," Naruto shouted behind him as he pulled the goggles back over his eyes.

He gave a frustrated grunt when he heard, "I want to help!"

"You're better off-" he started to say as he turned around to speak to her face-to-face.

Naru-chan wasn't listening. Instead she was rearing back. "Duck!" she shouted before an object came flying right for his face. He watched in horror as she immediately covered her ears and shut her eyes. Half a second later, the stone was passing over his head as his knees practically collapsed.

Before he could recover, Naruto was leaning forward wildly as he struggled to throw himself to the ground before THAT note exploded.

If it was going to explode. Because he suddenly realized that Naru-chan didn't know how to use his notes.

Hiashi's palm struck the rock with a white slip of paper attached.

And then a giant boom nearly deafened everyone in the tunnel as a shockwave raced down the narrow corridor. The wooden rafters above their head, the beams that keep the Hyuuga mansion from collapsing, rattled violently, dislodging dust that had collected over several years. The air thickened drastically, and for those with unprotected eyes and noses, it suddenly became difficult to see or breathe.

-o-o-o-o-o-

- Several moments earlier, in a different part of the tunnel -

"Got it," Hanabi mildly cheered as she caught the glowing green item before it could hit the ground. She turned to see a confused look on her opponent's face.

"What is that?"

She thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. "It has such a long, useless name. Something about door, places, unimaginative, and big words."

There was a momentary pause as her counterpart paused to digest this information. Her double shook her head in disbelief before she promptly smirked, "I believe we are on opposite sides once again."

"It would appear so," she calmly replied as she carefully set the crystal on the ground before straightening up.

"Shall we fight then?" her opponent asked.

"Yes. Let's," she replied as a smirk appeared on her own face.

She struck first. Frequent spars with Naruto had made her a bit impulsive.

A near miss.

"You are slow," the other girl taunted as she returned to her previous spot.

The one in white wasted little time following the first attack with a strong push that sent the other girl staggering back.

"Too much weight to one side," she shot back before she suddenly raised an arm to block.

"That would have disabled your arm," her opponent casually said.

Hanabi moved her arm behind her back with a nod to signal her agreement, and she continued the fight with one hand.

In short order, she was taken out of the fight as her other arm was "disabled" and her heart "struck."

Before the victor could be announced, Hanabi caught a glimpse of what was happening nearby. The slip of paper that was attached to the ordinary rock was hard to see, but when she saw it, she instantly knew what it was.

Concussive note!

"Cover your ears really tightly," she managed to say before a pressure wave sent her crashing into a wall.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Why wasn't there a flash of light?" One of the Narutos shouted before she started coughing as dust entered her lungs.

"You stole my note!" The other one coughed as well.

"It was out in the open, of course I'd take it and use it!" she said loudly, coughing repeatedly. Meaning she had reached into his jacket pocket when he wasn't looking and pulled it out. How was that out in the open?

Her pickpocketing skills wasn't what was really bothering him though. He sneezed before coughing out, "How did you know how to use that note? You've never seen it before. And how did you set it to trigger on contact? They're not supposed to do that!"

"I don't know!" came the hoarse reply. Through the goggles, he saw that her eyes were narrowed from the high concentration of dust floating around.

"You don't know? To the first or second?" Naruto managed to say, the air seemed to be getting thicker.

She coughed several times before saying, "Does it matter?" He saw her turn and point, "Look!"

Thankful for his goggles, Naruto looked up and saw that Naru-chan was pointing at Hiashi, who was clutching his ears in a silent scream. It briefly occurred to him that she could see the man through the occluding dust and darkness without a pair of goggles. Why?

He didn't have time to figure out how because Naru-chan wasted little time in staggering to her feet.

"Hey!" Naru-chan shouted as her forward charge was promptly arrested.

Naruto sneezed again, jerking the girl back slightly without meaning to. He had a handful of her jumpsuit because he knew, even while deafened, Hiashi was still a formidable ninja. Especially because the man could still see through the dust.

He was soon hauling her back even more when Hiashi stopped holding his ears and turned to glare menacingly at them. When the man tensed, a motion that Naruto recognized as the man's way of ending everything with one strike, Naruto panicked and immediately turned to run in the other direction, dragging Naru-chan with him as he headed for the two Hanabi's that were just starting to stand up.

Just as he passed the two girls, he felt something strike his back and his world suddenly felt numb.

As his thoughts turned sluggish, he turned to the girl clad in the kimono with orange sleeves. A smirk graced her face as she made a show of pulling her hand back.

"Nabi...chan?" he mouthed before he felt himself falling forward as his world started to fade to black.

There was a distant yelp, and then he heard what sounded like a body hitting the floor. Then...

-o-o-o-o-o-

"W-what are you doing?" the Hanabi in white shrieked, horrified when one of the Narutos collapsed, pulling the other one down with him.

"Finishing what I started," the Hanabi clad in color said with a calm collected voice. Her counterpart gasped in disbelief as she fell back a step.

The one in color advanced upon the prone body, but she never had a chance to strike him a second time.

Naru-chan had finally broken free from Naruto's limp grip, and, with a bellow, leapt from her spot and tried to tackle the slightly shorter girl.

The Hanabi in color gracefully ducked before rebuffing the attack.

Hiashi watched all of this happening with a calm gaze. Which of the girls was his true daughter and which one was the imposter. The one in the pristine pale kimono standing next to him, or the one in the slightly damaged colored kimono fighting off the demon.

He never had a chance to figure it out.

"You are within the range of my divination," Hanabi coldly said. The divination circle lit up from under her, and a dramatic breeze ruffled her white kimono.

Her double and her blond opponent were both just outside of the outermost ring.

**JyuukenPo: Hakke Jyuuroku Shou**

Hiashi, however, was inside of the circle. He turned towards her when he felt the buildup of chakra, but it was too late.

"Hakke!" The doubles stopped fighting and turned to her when they heard the shout. She didn't care, as she leaned forward...

"Two strikes." Hanabi announced as she suddenly struck twice at her double's father.

The man easily blocked the attacks, however Hanabi was twirling around rapidly as her next attack sequence started.

"Four strikes." She intoned as she lashed out twice more.

Because of her short height, it was easy for her to strike his relatively unprotected leg before she danced out of the way of his counterattack. She was positioned at his side now, the confining tunnel and a numb leg making it impossible for him to keep up with her.

"Eight strikes." Her hands moved quickly as she struck four more times.

Hiashi was able to deflect the first attack, however the following three rendered his arm temporarily unusable. He moved to block her progress, but Hanabi was able to squeeze through the tiny opening in her wild dance. She was now facing his back.

"Sixteen strikes," the current limit of her special attack, Hanabi targetted several key points within her reach as she lashed out eight more times, her arms becoming blurs. She easily had the other out of commission, a leg disabled, and one of his hands would be unusable for a few hours. There was one point that was almost out of her reach, however a short non-traditional hop easily brought it within reach. She struck it and disabled his voice.

Still in mid-hop, Hanabi kicked out and jumped off of her father's back to put some distance between them. The instant she hit the ground, she skidded backwards half a meter before she regained control of her balance. There she stood, eyeing the rapidly falling body warily and preparing to strike again if her first attack was not enough.

"Father!" the one in the colorful kimono shrieked. "Why? Why did you do this to father!" she demanded as she suddenly found the strength to throw off the furious blond girl.

"An eye for an eye," the one in white panted when she finally determined that her "father" was unable to do anything except glare at her for the time being.

There was an unseen signal...

And both Hanabi's immediately charged at each other with enraged shouts. They both met right on top of the body and lashed out with chakra-infused palms. A large flare of chakra exploded between them.

The two broke quickly broke apart as they regarded their opponent seriously. They were now using chakra in their attacks. It wasn't a friendly spar anymore, it was a real battle.

They charged in again.

**∗Fwoom∗ **

**∗fwoom ∗ fwoom∗** The air crackled as the chakra blasted from of their palms in waves.

White kimono Hanabi staggered backwards after the first wave of attacks. Her hands felt slightly numb.

She quickly realized that she had a problem. She couldn't channel as much chakra through her limbs as her counterpart. A byproduct of her modified training perhaps. The numbness resulted because she was forcing more chakra through her chakra channels than they were used to taking.

It seemed that her opponent had noticed this as well.

She quickly brought her hands up into a guard position when an irritating smirk made its way onto her opponent's face. The two charged at each other once again, one of them concentrating on using her greater speed and agility in this next exchange.

**∗Fwoom ∗ fwoom ∗ **

'This is better.' Hanabi thought as she ducked beneath the orange sleeve. She had deflected the last two strikes instead of straight out blocking. It took less chakra to pull off and there was now a gaping hole in the other girl's defense which she moved to take advantage of...

...only to have her white sleeves flap into her face as she danced out of the way of a wild strike from behind. The whistling sound of a missed punch passed her ear, pulling its owner with it. Hanabi waited for just the right moment before she shoved the surprised and off-balanced blond in the ribs.

There was the dull thud as a body fell against the wooden wall.

"Stay out of this," Hanabi shouted before her large white sleeves flew upwards as she ducked under the incoming haymaker. She immediately lashed out at the girl's unprotected stomach with a strong palm strike. There was a gasp as air was forced from the blond girl's lung.

Naruto's double staggered back, giving Hanabi room to turn and block another chakra infused strike from her alternate. When her opponent's chakra suddenly started to eat through her own, Hanabi instantly knew that she didn't have enough chakra moving into her hand to protect it. There was a sudden burning feeling that caused her hand to involuntarily flinch, and, in moments, her defense had crumbled and a searing pain shot through her shoulder. One of her arms fell numb. Time sped up as the two separated once again. She didn't give her opponent a chance to follow-up as she mercilessly charged forward without pause.

Now she was angry, and she took it out on her mirror.

After several strikes that the one in color could not block because of the speed in which they moved, Hanabi managed to pierce through her opponent's defenses, and then she screamed as she hammered into the red part of her opponent's kimono with quick but unfocused blows.

She didn't see the incoming flying kick until it struck her in the middle of her back and sent her crashing into her counterpart. Off-balance, the two flopped ungracefully to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Naru-chan stopped and blinked before she raised an arm and cheered. "Ha! Piece of cake!"

The blonde's momentary inattention allowed Hanabi to focus on separating herself from her double without taking a crippling hit from the one beneath her. In seconds, she was on her feet.

She wasn't given any time to stabilize her stance before a wild kick came from one direction and a chakra infused palm came from another.

Suddenly finding herself under attack from two sides, Hanabi found herself being overwhelmed. She screamed and then in a blind panic, she started lashing out wildly in all directions. She felt fire sear through her body as large blue waves flared fiercely all around her as she struggled to keep up with her opponents.

She suddenly felt her head turn aside as a raw punch finally pierced her defense and struck her cheek. Dazed from the blow, she couldn't stop the rest of the incoming attacks and soon after she felt herself being juggled between the two.

Finally, a cheap shot to the back sent her stumbling towards a rotting wooden support. Her shoulder bounced off of it and she promptly fell over as her legs left the ground.

As she laid on the ground, she soon discovered that she couldn't use her right arm and that her left side hurt a lot.

Surprisingly, there were no followup attacks. And once she could work through her body's protests and sit up, she knew why. Naruto's counterpart was now furiously attacking her double.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hanabi settled back to watch Naruto's double demolish the other Hanabi with her brawler tactics. _ One who trained purely in Jyuuken would eventually have a powerful style that can fight off almost any melee attacks. However, because it lacked structure, fast random attacks were extremely difficult to counter early in the training because the trainee was not yet used to dealing with variation._

She was surprised then, when she noticed that Naruto's double was losing.

Her eyes widened as she realized that Naruto's alternate wasn't trained to fight one-on-one with a Hyuuga. _While Naruto's counterpart was moving too erratically for her double to get a good strike in, she didn't dodge. She just absorbed each hit. And she was slowing down with each hit that she absorbed_.

Knowing that the blond's loss was inevitable, staying put on the ground would be extremely disadvantageous for her._ She had to get up! But.._.she tried to shift to the side..._her body was reluctant to respond. She had used up too much of her energy during her unrestrained defense against the two of them._

Stiffly pulling her white kimono aside, Hanabi practically threw herself against the base of the rotting support pole. Forcing herself to hug the rotting wood she struggled to pull herself up with just her left arm while the fighting continued just a little way off.

'Finally!' she gasped as she leaned heavily against the pillar, panting heavily from the effort required to remain standing. Clutched tightly in her left fist was a handful of dirt.

She turned to see a body collapse like a puppet with its strings cut. Naruto's counterpart had lost. It was just the two of them left.

Flushed from her newest victory, her double turned and slowly approached.

Hanabi let go of her support. Taking advantage of gravity's pull and her lack of balance, she whirled around so that her free hand had enough momentum to launch the dirt clod at her opponent's face.

Her spin continued as gravity continued its downward pull and she lost sight of her makeshift weapon. For a moment, she hoped that it hit. Then the air was forced from her lungs when she crashed into the earth.

This wasn't a time to stay still! The urgency prompted her to rally whatever strength she had left. But she was...

...so tired...

-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi slowly opened her eyes and the world came into focus. A quick look around revealed that she was still in the Hyuuga's evacuation tunnel, but instead of finding herself lying on the floor, she was propped against a rough wooden wall.

Off to the side was her counterpart, hogtied and extremely mad. She managed a weak grin at the sight.

A pair of blue eyes suddenly appeared in her vision.

The two stared at each other.

"Hey Nabi-chan," a friendly voice finally said.

"Narut-?" She quietly said as she tried to reach forward and grab his jumpsuit. Maybe never let go. But her arm refused to move.

"You're our Nabi-chan, aren't you?" He asked as he reached forward. She felt a large palm rest on her forehead.

"Yes...I'm your Nabi-chan..." she echoed weakly as she struggled to move her arm again.

"So why?" Naruto asked as he lifted an arm. It belonged to her, she soon realized, even if she couldn't feel it. However, that wasn't what he was interested in; he was tugging on the dirty white fabric.

Hanabi couldn't meet his questioning gaze head on, so she looked away as she answered. "She looked...caged, so I decided to let her free for a bit...I-I'm sorry...if I had kn-"

She paused to glare at the now standing boy who was teasingly ruffling her hair. "Silly Nabi-chan. Always doing the silly things." Naruto said with a smile on his face.

Had he forgiven her? Maybe. She didn't care because he had accused her of being silly. Hyuuga's weren't silly. She narrowed her eyes at him, "It was your idea to steal some fish from the market so that we could drop it on father."

"You were the one that wanted the fish to fly and kiss him!" he shot back, causing her to flinch slightly from the heat in his voice. She quickly recovered her wits.

"I had no such plans!" she said with a sniff.

"Oh yeah, haha. I made that up. We should try it next time," he said laughing with a hand behind his head.

"I want no part in your foolish actions." she quickly said...too quickly she realized.

Naruto smirked. "I see I can make you join in," he said as he gave her nose a poke.

She couldn't bear to meet his eyes seriously. No matter how hard she tried, she always ended up staring somewhere else. "It's good to see you again," she finally mumbled. She felt her face grow warm when she said that.

"Wow! Did you really miss me that much?" he asked. "I remember that the last time you saw me you said something like, 'Naruto you idiot! You ruin everything!'"

Oh...yeah, an irritated feeling surged up from within her, replacing the warm feeling from before. She turned to him with a half-lidded expression, "Happy birthday...Idiot."

His face was centimeters from her face! "Eh?! That was my birthday gift?! What was it?"

It's so embarrassing now that she thought about it. She painfully turned to face the wall, hoping that Naruto couldn't see her blush.

"Nabi-chan! Tell me! Tell me!" the boy persisted.

That pockmark in the wall was really interesting all of a sudden, she slowly leaned in to have a better look.

"Okay!" Naruto suddenly shouted loudly and Hanabi felt someone push against her back. Her face met the wall with a loud thud.

"Ow!" she couldn't help it. Even if she had crashed into a semi-soft rotting wooden wall, she hadn't been expecting it.

"Oh no! Nabi-chan! Sorry sorry!" She heard him babble before he suddenly flipped her around. Her entire body screamed when that happened. Then to make matters worse, he started to poke her nose, probably to see if it hurt.

Well of course it did!

"Yaaah! Naruto! Stop! Ow! Stop!!" she cried as she weakly tried to push herself away.

She suddenly felt him let her go, and she watched as he shuffled backwards several steps, a slightly hurt look on his face.

The anger disappeared as quickly as it came, but before she could apologize, a determined expression appeared on his face.

Hanabi watched him stand, a feeling of worry rising up within her. He wasn't bothering her about the gift anymore? The easiest way to get him to stop is to give him what he wanted, but she hadn't said anything. So why?

Her eyes flickered to the top of his head as Naruto bent down to pick up his glowing green invention. She saw the dim outline of an antenna as it bathed in the green light.

She could feel the blood rush from her face as she watched Naruto place the doorknob against the wall. It flared brightly before the outline of a door started to form in the wall. As it worked, he quickly moved to pick up his counterpart before he reached down. She muttered a quiet thanks as he helped her up.

To her chagrin, she couldn't stand on her own. She was too exhausted. To add to her embarrassment, Naruto was there to catch her before she fell. She tried to stand up again, but his arm wouldn't budge. He wasn't letting her. Naruto...idiot. Left with no other choice, she leaned heavily against him.

"Skuld-chan," she heard him say, "We're leaving now."

In the background, there was the sound of many footsteps running toward their location.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld stared silently at what looked like a green-glowing golden doorknob planted in the side of a tree. This was the half of the hourglass shaped object that Naruto had given her. She absentmindedly played with the dials on her now-dead binoculars as she waited.

Suddenly, the doorknob on the tree began flared blue before a bright purple dot appeared on the lower left. It quickly etch out an outline in the tree trunk, and when a complete purple rectangle was formed, the rough bark swung open revealing a sparkling shimmering blue surface that rippled like water.

Naruto's voice crackled over her headset. "Skuld-chan, we're leaving now."

Soon after, a boy staggered out. He was carrying an unconscious girl, bridal style, while also acting as a leaning post for another girl. All three fell on the soft grass.

Skuld immediately closed the bark door behind them before she pulled the knob off of the tree. The half-hourglass in her hands dimmed slightly before it shattered, its power source too weak to maintain a link with the other end.

"You look awful" Skuld said with a frown as she handed the two conscious members an energy drink each. After several sips, Naruto was soon grinning madly.

"You should have seen it Skuld-chan! I beat em back with my own two hands!"

Hanabi sat up, a bit perky as well from the extra sugar now running through her body. "Who was it that really did the fighting Naruto-san?"

"Skuld says no fighting in the house," Naruto shot back.

"You call that a house? I've seen dogs live in something bigger," the younger girl growled.

"Quit insulting our apartment," Naruto angrily demanded as he butt heads with the shorter girl.

"Ano..." a voice from under them suddenly made itself known. The two stopped glaring into each other's eyes to look down at the small body lying between them.

Skuld chuckled softly. "I think it's time to return home for the night," she said as she helped Naruto to his feet. Together, they pulled up the other two members of the group.

Hanabi was too proud to accept more help than that, and the energy boost that she had just received was enough to have her standing upright, albeit a bit unsteadily. However Naru-chan's balance was shaky at best, so Naruto volunteered to hold her steady until she could lay down and rest some more.

They only took a step forward before Skuld stopped and turned.

"Hang on." she said as she crouched next to Hanabi. She moved the girl's limp arm slightly before she quickly pulled out a small box with a red cross on it.

Hanabi's eyes widened. "Is that?"

Skuld nodded. "Miya-chan's first aid kit? Yes it is."

"Where is Miya-san?" Hanabi asked as she looked around.

Skuld immediately looked at Naruto, a panicky look on her face.

"Uh, ah...Miya-chan...we sent her home already," Naruto stammered from her left.

"Is that what Skuld-san would say," Hanabi challenged, not believing him for a minute.

Hanabi looked to Skuld. "N-n-" the black-haired girl stammered, clearly struggling to say something else.

"Skuld-san would say the same thing," came a weak voice from the left. Hanabi turned to the drooping Naruto. The girl. The one who, surprisingly, had enough energy to glare at her and tell her to drop it. Hanabi gazed expressionlessly at the slightly taller blond for a moment.

"Whatever," she finally said with a casual wave of her good hand. Something had happened to Miya-san, but they wouldn't tell her what. No matter, they were probably blowing it way out of proportion again.

"How's your arm Hanabi?" Skuld asked, as she pulled Miya-chan's prized invention away.

The white-eyed girl tested her right arm. "It works," she said flatly.

Skuld nodded before hiding the first-aid box away.

Naruto shuffled a little. "Skuld-chan?" his best friend looked at him, "You said that you'd tell me what Nabi-chan got me if I managed to get us out without getting caught."

A thoughtful look appeared on the tallest raven haired girl's face. "I promised didn't I?"

"Yup!" Naruto said happily.

Skuld grinned. "Well Naruto, Hanabi-chan told me that she was making you a Mmm...mmmf."

"Eh?! That's not fair Nabi-chan!" Naruto shouted as he awkwardly reached over to try and remove the shortest girl's hand from Skuld-chan's mouth. Not easy to do when he had someone leaning heavily on him. Hanabi easily shrunk back from his clumsy attempt.

Skuld only had enough time to shoot Naruto an apologetic look over her back before Hanabi started dragging her away.

Soon, Naruto had Naru-chan riding piggy-back before he hollered and furiously ran after the two laughing raven haired girls.

As the entire group made their way toward Naru-chan's apartment. He never noticed the growing blush from the girl seated on his back.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You said that you sent her home already, so where's Miya-san?" Hanabi asked as Naruto ducked slightly and entered the apartment. It was an unnecessary effort since both blonds weren't tall, but the thought is what counted, right?

He immediately glanced over at Skuld, who was already standing in the living room. She returned his look with one of her own.

Naru-chan wasn't as inhibited. Leaning forward to get Naruto's attention, she motioned for him to take her to the coffee table.

Once they were hovering over the small wooden table, she immediately picked up a sheet of paper after Naruto let her down. After looking it over for a moment, she turned to the assembled group and grinned. "Ah! Myachan wrote and said that she was going out for the night."

Naruto and Skuld both breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Disaster, averted.

None of them noticed Hanabi's eyes narrowing slightly. She didn't need her bloodline to know that the blond girl was holding a blank piece of paper.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Three girls and one boy. They soon found that they had a dilemma.

No futons. Only a couch, and a bed. The bed was big enough for two, maybe three. The couch big enough for only one. The answer was obvious.

"I call the couch." Naruto quickly said.  
"I want it as well," his counterpart said immediately afterwards.

Everyone looked oddly at the blond girl.

She looked away embarrassed before saying, "You know what. I think I'll take the bed," she said as she motioned for Naruto to take her to her bedroom.

The other three briefly relaxed before the bedroom door suddenly slammed shut and a lock clicked. Both girls realized that the sole boy in the apartment was NOT standing right next to them.

They calmly turned to the innocent looking door. Skuld's Universal Key was soon out and beeping madly. And if that didn't work, Hanabi was more than happy to knock the door off its hinges.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Okay okay! You can have him back!" a muffled voice shouted.

The door opened and Naruto dizzily stepped out.

A pillow flew out soon after and struck him on the back of his head.

The boy fell face first as the door slammed shut again.

Both girls watched him land centimeters from their sand bag wall.

"You might need this," Hanabi said as she held out a small turtle shell-shaped helmet to the prone boy in front of them.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Inside of the bedroom, Naruto sat quietly on the bed. She was staring at the ground when the other two girls stepped in, dressed and ready to sleep.

Her eyes widened when a small messily wrapped box suddenly appeared in her field of view. She looked up.

"Happy Birthday Naruto," Skuld said as she held the box out with a grin. "It's your birthday, right?"

Naru-chan looked at it in confusion. "For me? Wasn't this?"

"Keep it. It was his idea," Hanabi calmly said.

Skuld looked at the shorter girl carefully. "Didn't he tell us not to reveal his involvement?" she wondered out loud.

"Yes," Hanabi simply said as an enigmatic smile formed on her face.

There was a quiet curse from the bedroom door. When all three girls looked over, they saw the door quietly slide shut.

Naru-chan blushed. "Thank you..."

-o-o-o-o--o-o-o-o-

"What are you two doing?"

Naruto snapped awake to see Nabi-chan, the one who had just asked the question, looking expressionlessly at him. Skuld-chan stood next to the shorter girl with a large grin on her face.

Wondering why the two were acting so oddly, he started to sit up, only to realize that he couldn't move. He looked down and nearly screamed in surprise.

A sunny-haired girl was holding him tightly as her head rested on his chest. A snot bubble slowly grew and shrunk from her small nose as she quietly slept.

Naruto tried to work himself free by shifting around a little. He soon discovered that the girl was stuck fast to his chest.

The girl murmured something, too quiet to make out.

Skuld snickered at Naruto's helplessness before she heard a small growl coming from next to her. She bent sideways slightly to say, "Okay Hanabi, let's leave Mr. Teddy Bear alone for a bit longer while we start." she said using one of Miya-chan's favorite nicknames for Naruto. She took a hold of the smaller girl's hand and forcefully tried to move the younger girl.

When the white-eyed girl refused to budge, Skuld bent down to whisper something into her ear. Hanabi's white eyes widened before she stalked away turning one last time to glare angrily, first at Skuld then at Naruto, before she reentered the bedroom.

"Skuld-chan. No." Naruto whimpered as he saw his roommate grin and slowly pull out a camera.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Naruto-kun? Could you explain these to me?" A happy girl asked coyly as she approached the boy tinkering with a small control panel.

He looked up at the girl before he noticed what was in her hands. "Where did you get those?!" he demanded.

"Skuld asked me to help out, and she gave me a few pages to look over," was the suspiciously casual reply. With a look of understanding, Naruto warily took the small stack of blueprints and quickly flipped through them before looking up.

"These aren't the right plans, Naru-chan." At her confused look, he sighed before explaining, "You're holding the designs for the original dimensional breaker portal thingy. If you wanted to help build the device to return us home, you would need the modified plans.

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes"

"Where?"

Naruto blew a puff of air upwards, ruffling his short spiky hair slightly as he thought about what to say. "Well, I guess you could say weight."

"Weight?"

"Yeah, see. If I take this button and threw it at the couch over there," he threw the small switch that was about a quarter of a fist in size. It landed lightly on a couch cushion. "Now, if I take this iron part, which is larger and much heavier, and threw it with about the same force," the part made a clumsy arc before it hit the carpet. It didn't even land close to the couch.

"As you can see, if it's heavier it can't fly as far because it's harder to launch. It's not really weight, but the real reason is a bit difficult to understand. Even I don't quite get it." he said with a shrug before he continued, "Still, this is only half of the equation. In addition, you have to see whether you are returning to a dimension or sending yourself away from it."

"Huh?"

"Well," he suddenly picked up a 2x4 that was just lying around and placed it against the coffee table so that one end was high in the air while the other was resting on the ground. "Let's use this piece of wood to demonstrate. Okay, we'll say that your dimension is located right here," he pointed at the end that was on the floor.

"Right, well, we want to go from your dimension to this dimension over here," he moved his pointing finger up the ramp until he stopped at the middle part of the block of wood. Giving the middle section two pokes to emphasize where he wanted the new dimension to be, he picked up a smooth white plastic cube that was lying on the floor.

"Let's say that this block is you." He said as he placed it at the bottom of the ramp. The two watched as the block did absolutely nothing.

"Umm..." Naruto hesitantly made a sound. She didn't want to say this but...

"But," Naruto interrupted, "if I push on the block from one end..." and with a single finger he slowly slid the cube up the ramp and stopped it at the other dimension. "Get it yet?"

Naru-chan had a finger on the corner of her mouth as she stared upward in thought. She finally looked down again. "I think so, we need something to push us from one place to another, right?"

"Yup. But say we want to return from that dimension?" He removed his hand and the two watched as the block slid back down the ramp under its own power.

At her confused look, he explained what was happening. "It's easier to return to your dimension than to leave it because you don't have to go uphill. You don't need as much power. It's why we need the modified design. Otherwise," he picked up the block and carried it some distance from the end of the ramp on the floor. He put it down with a dull thud. "If we use the same amount of power, we'll overshoot and end up here next time. And we probably won't meet a Naruto as nice as you. Think about it," he said with a grin before he looked down at the design plans again. He wasn't aware of the blush that had suddenly appeared on the girl's face.

He flipped a page. Here, he gazed at the current sheet for a long moment before he looked up. "Hmm, wait, I think these are the newer plans." he looked back down at the sheets in front of him before flipping to the older design. After comparing the two for a moment, he looked up again. "Yeah. See, it looks like Skuld took the old design and added a switch."

"A switch?" she asked curiously.

"Mm hmm, see, if the switch was in this position, it would be in it's older setting which we would use if we wanted to jump somewhere else. Then if you moved the switch to this position, it would be the newer setting. Which we would use to return home."

"So if I moved the switch here and jumped...in? I would land in your home dimension right?" she asked as she tapped her finger on the old setting.

Naruto was silent for a moment before he replied. "I think Skuld-chan is going to align the teleporter so that we can only go forward and back and not side to side, so...yep! That's correct." Naruto said with a nod and a smile. A confused look passed over his face. "Why are you asking anyway?"

"Oh, no reason Naruto-kun." The girl cheerfully said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, before she ran off.

Skuld walked in soon after. She saw Naruto holding a hand to his cheek with a shocked look on his face, but she thought nothing of it when she saw the blueprints in his other hand.

"Naruto! I was going to ask if you knew where these pages went. Thanks!"

She pulled the papers from Naruto's limp grip and walked away as she leafed through them, "Hanabi! Get me a..."

"Slave driver..." Hanabi muttered irritably as she walked past.

"What was that?" Skuld demanded. "Naruto!" she singsonged. A blond head peeked in from the other room to see what was happening while the one in the middle of the living room turned to look at his best friend.

Skuld opened her mouth. "Did you know that-"

"This is what you wanted right?" Hanabi interrupted as she held up a small pair of crimps.

"Yep!" Skuld cheerfully said as she left the room, leaving the two Narutos to wonder.

-o-o-o-o-

A small spark jumped from the panel to the tip of the screwdriver.

"Okay. Done. We're connected to the kitchen back home," Skuld said as she shut the panel and wiped her forehead before hiding the screwdriver away. She suddenly grinned happily, "and it's complete this time!"

Naruto had a confused look on his face. "It wasn't complete before?"

Skuld shook her head.

"It seemed like it worked just fine the first time we went through it," Hanabi sarcastically bit out giving a rather pointed glance to the familiar yet unfamiliar kitchen walls.

Skuld held up a finger and winked. "Ah! But because the portal will actually be stable this time, we won't be injured and tired by the time we reach the other end. In short, it'll be like a water slide, only twenty times longer and a hundred times as fun."

"What's a water slide?"

"Uhh, it's a slide with water running down the center," Skuld said after some thought.

A look of understanding appeared on Naruto's face. She would have to ask him later what he was thinking. With any luck, it would truly be a slide with water running down it and not something crazy like a...like a...well something involving fish.

Hanabi still looked confused. "Why would we want water running down it?"

"Nevermind that," Skuld impatiently replied as she crawled over to the other side of the teleporter before turning to the three behind her and asking, "Are we ready?"

"Bye! We'll see each other soon!" Naru-chan suddenly said as she waved and took a step back.

"Yes! We will!" Naruto shouted just as loudly, not realizing that she wasn't asking a question. He approached the newly constructed dimensional portal thingamajiggy.

"Where is Miya-san?" Hanabi asked as she stopped wondering about the slide to ask a more pressing question.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Naru-chan will send her through when she gets back from wherever she is," Naruto cheerfully replied as he fiddled with a small cylinder.

"So why are you setting that bomb to go off a minute after we enter the portal," Hanabi asked with narrowed eyes.

Naruto froze for a moment before a fox grin filled his face. "Uh...don't worry! Miya-chan has a built in dimensional jumpy thingy."

"She didn't have one when I last saw her," Hanabi challenged.

Naruto made up a story on the spot. "Skuld-chan installed it last night!"

"I don't remember seeing her last night." The white-eye girl said with a deadpan expression.

"Ah! didn't you go to bed before we did?" Naru-chan interjected as she suddenly gave into her urges and hugged her male counterpart.

"I suppose I did," the white-eyed girl replied with narrow eyes.

"Hey!" Naru-chan suddenly found herself stumbling backwards. She barely managed to catch herself an instant before crashing into her table.

"Eh? Nabi-chan?" Naruto watched as Hanabi immediately stood in the spot that the blond girl had occupied moments earlier, her arms crossed, her cheeks puffed out, and an irritated look on her face.

"Ready," Hanabi gruffly said for both Naruto and her.

Fighting a small smile, Skuld pushed a button and a black wormhole rapidly spun into existence.

All three stepped through one by one, each one disappearing with a pop.

When Naruto, the last member of the party to step through the portal, disappeared, the blond girl sprang into action. She had less than a minute to disable the explosive device that would render the portal unusable.

She had it open in ten seconds.

After looking at the three wires in the exposed panel, she took a deep breath before cutting the blue one. The timer continued counting down. After cutting the green and red wires and still no change, the girl shrieked angrily before picking up the cylinder running to her living room and throwing it as hard as she could through the hole in her window. There was a bright blue fire that almost reached the apartment that she was in.

Soon after, there was a rumble and Naru-chan gaped in horror as the ugly gray abandoned building next door suddenly began to collapse inwards.

Her mind immediately started working out what would happen if the bomb had been in her apartment when it went off. She soon had it figured out. Her apartment minus metal support structure equalled her being buried under several tons of brick. A shadow passed over her face. "Okay, wait just one day, then you can kill him," she muttered to herself, a vein throbbing wildly on her forehead.

-o-o-o-o-

A day after they returned to their home dimension, and after a long lecture from the Third as well as Hiashi, and finally a chance to sleep in their very comfortable beds...

"I get it! I get it! You can stop pushing now Skuld-chan." He reached forward to open the closet door...

"Eh? Hinata-chan?"

"Ano...Happy belated birthday, Naruto-kun." the girl said, twiddling her fingers.

Naruto jumped when a large bang erupted from behind him. Hanabi was sitting on the back of a nearby couch, covered in silver stars. There was a small smile on her face. "Happy Birthday Naruto-san." She said before throwing another multicolored ball into the air. This was another loud bang, but this time it started to rain a stunning array of blues, reds, greens, and yellows. The confetti slowly covered the living room.

"Thank you guys," Naruto said happily.

"It's not over yet. Come on," Skuld insisted as she led the boy to her room.

Naruto sucked in a deep breath when he saw the motionless figure lying on the couch. Two other heads peeked in with him.

"I spent some time trying to figure out how to do it," Skuld said thoughtfully. She suddenly looked at him with narrowed eyes, "This body was ready weeks ago, but I was reluctant to change it...until now." She dodged out of the way when Naruto quietly reached forward to pat her back. A weak grin appeared on her face, "She can finally grow with us. Happy birthday Naruto, now go wake her up."

Naruto rubbed at his eyes to hide the tears, before he took an unsteady step forward. He was suddenly shoved aside when someone passed him and said, "too slow."

There was less than three meters from the door to the bed. There was a lot of clutter in the way. And Skuld-chan was shouting at the two of them not to run. But Nabi-chan challenged him, and he accepted.

"Miyah!" the girl on the bed shouted in surprise as two people dove on top of her.

"I win!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Mr. Naruto!" Miya shouted as she hugged him. She turned to the other occupant on the bed. "Miss Hanabi!" Without letting Naruto go, she pulled the two into a three-way hug.

Skuld looked at the scene with a small smile to her face before she moved to sit on her bed with the other 3.

Hinata remained outside the door. If one were to look at her now...they would see a slightly wanting look on the older girl's face.

"Mr. Naruto?" Miya asked as someone suddenly pushed out of the hug. Hanabi moved out of the way to see what the blond boy was up to. Naruto had the edge of his palm resting on the pink-haired girl's forehead. He brought it back to his own forehead.

"Miya-chan! I think you've grown!"

She gasped. "Really?! How much?" she enthusiastically shouted as she pulled him off the bed and out of the room. Hinata barely managed to jump out of the way of the rampaging girl with cherry blossom pink hair and special green eyes.

The catgirl led him to a special wall in the apartment before holding up a pen.

Tongue in the corner of his mouth, Naruto pulled off the cap and made a mark.

Everyone stared at the mark for a moment before a large cheer resounded through the apartment building.

Skuld motioned for silence, and the noise slowly died down. "Happy birthday Miya-chan," Skuld said as she gave the pink haired girl a hug.

"Happy birthday Miya-chan!" everyone echoed.

"and Naruto!" the only boy in the house quickly shouted afterwards.

Hanabi was quick on the uptake. "Get lost, you already had your fun," she said with a dismissive wave, causing a disappointed look to appear on the blond boy's face.

Everyone else laughed, before they quieted when they noticed the trembling figure in the corner.

"T-Thank you Mr. Naruto!" the resident catgirl gushed with tears in her eyes as she moved out from under the height lines and gave Naruto her best hug yet.

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**Chapter 6: End. Thank you for reading.**

A/N: Gaah. Okay. And the omake that forced me to work intensely on this chapter:

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Omake! Ichi! (2)

17-year-old girl Naruto was walking down the streets with her whisker marks covered by makeup. It was a pointless action since many had more or less accepted her now that she was the Hokage...the youngest Kage ever in all 5 major nations. But sometimes she just felt like blending in with the crowd.

She was soon going to discover how important the whisker marks were for her sanity. Especially when she had forgotten that she was wearing the Hokage hat.

The girl stopped in the middle of the street, suddenly aware that many eyes were staring intently at her.

"Kami-sama! The fourth has returned!" someone shouted, praising the sky.

Before Naruto could edge in a word, someone else had something to point out.

"Seems a bit shorter than I imagined..."

Naruto immediately glared at the one that just spoke. Having never broken even five feet, her height was a very sore point for her.

The man with the loose mouth suddenly disappear from the crowd. From the cries of help, many were rather certain that the man wasn't moving out of the area under his own power. Some even prayed that it was a group of nin taking him to some remote part of the forest where there was no one to see. The citizens of Konoha didn't take too kindly to those who upset the venerable Hokage that saved them from the nine-tailed monster.

"Esteemed Yondaime!" someone shouted, latching onto her arm, "please return to hell, find my son, and bring him back. I'm begging you!" pleaded a brown-haired woman that was taller than her.

"Ah..."

"Hokage-sama! Bless my watermelons so that they'll grow as big and strong as you," the frail looking man shouted with a surprisingly loud voice as he held up a large fruit.

"I'm not..."

"Yondaime-sama! Please donate to the orphanages of Konoha so that we may buy go-carts for the children," another man begged.

"Go-carts?"

They were crowding around her, closing in.

"Help..."

Pretty soon there would be no room to breathe. She could smell the overpowering stench of sweat, garlic, and someone's unwashed socks. Noo..."I'm not the Fourth!" she finally managed to shout out as she desperately started pushing against the rapidly closing circle.

The crowd froze before they took a step back. Naruto vigorously rubbed the makeup off of her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

The mood suddenly changed when the whiskers were revealed. "You! How dare you insult the Fourth!"

The killing intent in the air suddenly brought back to her childhood days when there were large mobs out for her blood.

"Mou! I'm not trying to imitate anyone! How could you mistake me for the fourth! He's a guy, I'm a girl," she shouted in outrage.

That shut the crowd up.

Someone suddenly coughed. It sounded suspiciously like, "could've fooled us," Naruto turned to glare at the one responsible, but his comment sparked a chain reaction.

"Poor girl, she's as flat as a washboard..." a woman whispered loudly to her friend.

Haven't they ever heard of bindings?

A small voice in her head pointed out that she didn't use bindings because she didn't need them. It further pointed out that with her less-than-ample chest she had absolutely no way in hell of attracting her Naruto-sama's atten-

Woah! Who knew that it was actually possible to make cruel inner voices push up daisies?

"And her hair..."

Stupid missing-nin! Just when it reached a nice length, she was forced to find Sakura for a haircut because of that gunk that refused to wash out. (3)

"...It's a shame that she isn't a brunette..." the woman continued. The center of attention blanched when she heard that..

"Wouldn't a redhead be better?" someone else asked.

"Nevermind that, she's soo cute. I want one!"

"Me too!"

"Help!" Naruto cried as the crowd started pressing in again.

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**Chapter Preview!**

"What do you mean I'm not in the next chapter, I just got here!"

"C'mon Naru-chan, we need to cover some history."

"How about if Skuld takes care of it alone? It is her chapter after all."

"But I have to be there too! It wouldn't be much of a story without me." he protested.

"Excuse me?"

"Skuld-chan! I didn't mean it like that!"

Skuld suddenly started laughing before she turned and sauntered away. "I know."

Before Naruto could follow, Naru-chan had grabbed his arm. "Hey Naruto-kun. Does Skuld have a time machine?" she asked.

**Next Chapter: **_**Troubled Times**_

**Jya'n**

__

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A/N:

Agh! I can't believe I did that to Miya-chan. I just...sacrificed her because I knew that she could be rebuilt.

(1) While I love Nuku Nuku's cat ears, Miya's chassis wasn't designed by a team led by Kyuusaku. Her chassis was designed by Skuld. Skuld has her own personal design style. However, combat mode wasn't added by Skuld, but by Naruto and Hanabi. They needed a place to radiate excessive heat, and they thought that adding "cat ears" would be a nice touch. In combat mode, when Miya's ears snap out, they are shaped more like a cat's. They're rounder, curvier, and remarkably soft. It looks like there is fur on the ears, but these are actually very thin and flexible heatsinks.

(2) I invite you to take this unique joke (Fem Naruto looking like Yondaime) if you can reword it and make it even funnier. I look forward to seeing what can be done with it.

(3) Lemme show you how mean Naruto can be when she's mad:  
Through a conversation between two interrogators about a missing-nin that wasn't talking, she found out where he was being held. She broke into the holding facility late that night, bound the man, and dragged him to the tallest waterfall in Konoha. There, she proceeded to throw him right over the edge with only a thin wire to keep him from falling upon the sharp rocks below. After moving to the other side of the waterfall, she started to chuck Kunai at the thin wire to see if she could hit it. The unfortunate nin was soon shouting every single secret that he had ever kept. Apparently, he was more afraid of her horrible aim than the rocks below. It's too bad she couldn't hear the gagged grass-nin through the sound of rushing water, because when she threw her 26th Kunai, she actually managed to nick the wire. Her biggest regret was that a less-than-pleased Hokage was at the bottom of the waterfall. Needless to say, the missing-nin survived the plunge. Dammit!

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_**Extras Corner!**_

**Naruto's Special Jutsus:  
**

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_**"The Sky is Falling."**_ A-Rank Genjutsu. Prereq: 1 Goddess living with you.

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- Learned in place of Orioke no Jutsu  
- AOE attack. Renders almost all unprepared or weak to moderately-strong allies and enemies caught under it unconscious.  
_Advantages:  
_- Sealless  
- Fast Cast Time  
- Uses No Chakra  
_Disadvantage:  
_- Delayed Action of Approx 6 seconds (The time needed for someone to turn to a friend and question the caster's intelligence. He/she is usually the first to go.).  
- Stingy requirements  
_Details:  
_This Jutsu is strongest one in Naruto's Arsenal. However, its requirements are incredibly stingy. If even one isn't met, the Jutsu fails.  
- First of all, because it's a Genjutsu, it requires that the opponent could actually see you point or hear you shout otherwise your opponent will be unaffected. It's strongest if the nin can see AND hear. If the nin is blind (Using chakra to see sometimes doesn't count as blind) or deaf, the jutsu is greatly weakened but it could still succeed. If the nin cannot see at all or hear at all...this jutsu fails.  
- Secondly, the caster has to honestly believe that it could happen. Unfortunately, this also means that without some sort of protection, the caster will be caught in the crossfire as well since the ramen bowls attack indiscriminately.  
- Third, someone must question the caster's intelligence. This means that his opponents need to be a lot smarter than a brick.  
- The prereq is important. Some believe that getting such a powerful jutsu almost for free is magic. Hence you need the goddess' magic. However, the real reason is because a goddess' presence can make you believe that anything is possible.  
_A.K.A.:_ Divine retribution  
_Users: _Miya-chan ("What's that behind you?"). Naruto ("The Sky is Falling", "What's that behind you?")

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_**Orioke no Jutsu –**__ No Rank.__**  
**_

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An important skill learned by almost all Narutos. There are variations of the technique. Some learn a clothed version that improves on their less-adequate qualities, improving their sense of self worth. Others use a male henge which captures the heart of women and disgusts the men.  
- Naruto from WTAE universe does not learn the technique because he doesn't want to upset Skuld.  
- Naruto from the other dimension learned the clothed version of the voluptuous female form. However, she took the henge a step further and developed the nude version for the cheap laughs at the men's expense. Yeah, she's a bit bitter.

**Skuld's Inventions**  
Naruto: "Skuld-chan's inventions are incredible! They do incredible things and she makes many of them from stuff lying around my apartment. She even built a flying roll of toilet paper once using only silly putty, a rubber band, and a cup of extra fizzy lemon soda. It was so neat! After setting it down on its side so it wouldn't roll away, she pushed a button and we watched as the toilet paper suddenly farted so loudly that it flew high into the sky. It never came down!"

Miya: "Miss Skuld's inventions? They scare me...nya."

One problem with Skuld's inventions...carried over from her younger days...she tends to focus a lot of her attention on one aspect of her invention while ignoring the rest. As a result of this imbalance, her inventions often have a strange quirk in them. In other words, they never work quite like she wants them too. When she sits down and takes the time to plan them, this problem goes away, but she has more fun building things on-the-fly than constructing them from a blueprint.  
Naruto was describing how Skuld had built a small rocket and sent it into space. It was supposed to stop in Low Earth Orbit but the brakes failed to work. Two days later, several chunks of moon rock were blasted from a celestial object when Skuld's invention crashed and exploded.

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**Dimensional Teleporter  
**

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Catapults people to another dimension.  
Details:  
- What's important is that initial template scan, which is often described as being covered by a white light. Rather descriptive because the subject really is bathed in a white light. After the subject is scanned, the teleporter searches for a double that is at the correct range. The coordinates of that dimension are saved and the teleporter activated.

- If another dimensional teleporter is not present, need to build another one to return.  
- If incomplete, riders won't be protected from the tunnel that they're sent through, can result in major injuries as one travels down the tube.

- In addition, the one found in the old dimension was a prototype. It only had enough memory storage to hold the coordinates from a single template scan. This was why Hanabi and Miya were not sent to a different dimension.  
- Hidden in a cupboard. "Why is everyone complaining that I put a dimensional portal in a cupboard?!"

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Binoculars  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

A rather useful invention. Naruto was watching as Skuld worked and he later used her techniques to modify his goggles.  
Details:  
- Long distance Zoom. Skuld can make really distant objects seem up close.  
- Night vision – See in the dark as if it were day out. With full color and nice contrasts. Heck, you can even see shadows.  
- See through walls – It's not x-ray technology at work, it's science.  
- Auto Focus – pick the wall that you want to see through and the autofocus does the rest.  
- Laser Cutter – arguably the least important tool in the set.  
- Looks like a pair of binoculars.  
- Not enough room for a large battery. Short operation lifetime.  
- HUD that even displays the closest fast food restaurant.  
- Compass – for when you get lost. Unfortunately, it's powered so when the binoculars run out of juice it's back to reading the moss on trees.  
- Sensitive to Shock – too many internal gadgets. Dropping the binoculars can cause several gadgets to fail immediately.  
- AI – pipes up when Skuld isn't using it. Well, it used to say something when Skuld was using it...but it appears that Skuld got really mad.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Time Stasis box  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Whatever is put inside is temporarily locked out of time. Skuld needed to make one of these in a hurry, so it doesn't have any particularly special features or looks on it. Works like it should, although it cannot keep something suspended forever due to a weak power supply.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Shrinking boxes  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

With these, Skuld and Naruto can carry lots of things in their pockets.  
Details:  
- They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  
- They utilize dimensional technology to achieve their smaller sizes.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Power Supply  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Skuld's power sources are her least eccentric inventions.  
Details:  
- They're built to last  
- Provide plenty of power  
- Hidden away since they don't look very special. Well, that is...unless she built a walking battery.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Exploding Party Balls**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Explodes harmlessly and throws large amounts of colorful, light, and fluffy things around the room.  
**- **Miya's favorite  
- Only Hanabi knows how to use em correctly. Skuld does too, but she won't admit it.  
- When Naruto uses em, a bad nin often gets hurt.  
- Skuld likes to secretly throw em around from time to time  
- When Miya uses em...odd things happen.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Naruto's Inventions**  
Skuld: "Naruto's inventions? Not as good as mine of course. While more imaginative than most, they're still too simple for my taste. He's a bit wasteful too. I mean, who needs a whole sock to create a Christmas stocking when a cottonball is all you need? Hmm...it's not all bad though. I think his 'The door to two places! What an unimaginative name. Stop using big words Skuld-chan' has promise. What?! You think it's more useful than anything I could ever come up with?! You haven't seen my solar-powered kite have you?!"

Miya: "Mr. Naruto's inventions? Umm...I don't know! What do you think of them?"

Naruto is Skuld's apprentice. Because they tend to be simple, like him, his inventions tend to work like he wants them to. They also tend to be more useful for combat.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Goggles  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Naruto modified his goggles after watching Skuld work.  
Details:  
- Can see in the dark, with color.  
- Can see through walls.  
- Can see through some illusions.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Concussive Notes  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

A joint collaboration between Skuld and Naruto. This is perhaps the only invention which Skuld designed with warlike intentions.  
Details:  
- Emits a shockwave. For the more powerful notes, it's possible for the shockwave to throw back attackers or create such a pressure difference that the eardrums rupture.  
- The note is weakest at the center, where it lands.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Flash Concussive Note  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Naruto's upgrade to the Concussive Notes.  
Details:  
- Same effects as a regular concussive note.  
- This note also has the potential to temporarily blind an unprepared opponent  
- They're four times harder to make,  
- and Naruto is currently the only ninja known to possess these notes.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Metal Eater Bomb  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Creates a blue fire that eats metal while leaving organic matter unharmed.  
Details:  
- An easy way to disarm an opponent. Although it's a double edged sword if you carry metal weaponry as well.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Hourglass Invention (Real Name: The Door to Two Places! What an Unimaginative Name. Stop using large words Skuld-chan!)  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Of his inventions that are just as surreal as Skuld's, Naruto's crowning achievement.  
Details:

- With it, he can open a door between two places.  
- Needs to be set up first.  
- Long activation time. About 15 seconds. If you're in a hurry to escape, you'd better be hidden really really well.  
- Uses an extremely potent power source of his own design. Skuld's are easily better, but there's enough juice in Naruto's batteries to open about 5 doors before the power supply has to be replaced.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Miya's Inventions  
**Skuld: "I'm not sure if Miya-chan's inventions should be here..."  
Naruto: "You're just annoyed that someone else's inventions can be better than yours."  
Skuld: "Am not."  
Naruto: "Are too!"

Miya likes to mimic others. So when Naruto and Skuld are in one of their competitive creating moods, she wants to join in. Her few submissions are scarily good or just plain scary.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Healy-Thingy  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Emits a healing light.  
- Small rod with a crystal on the end. There's a button that activates on the side.  
- Works over a small area.  
- Miya borrowed a small power source from Skuld to power her device.  
- Heals quickly. Causes no detrimental effects.  
- Good for small cuts and bruises.  
- Larger cuts and bruises can be stabilized.  
- Too slow against very large wounds.  
- Can also restore lightly damaged tenketsu points.  
- Only Naruto seems to know the principles behind why it works.  
- Skuld, Naruto, and Miya know how to use it. The best effects happen when Miya uses it.  
- Neither Naruto nor Skuld know how Miya designed or built this device.  
- Miya keeps it in her first aid kit.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

**Very Large and Useful Bandages  
**

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

- Good for all wounds**  
- **Extremely useful  
**- **Tons of uses  
- Very Very Useful.  
- I'm telling the truth, really.  
- Plenty to go around, want one?


	9. Ch7: Special::Miya

_Miya? Good heart. Optimistic. Trouble-prone. Loyal. Coward. Lazy. Seafood Connoisseur._

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

A Wish to an End  
by MingShun

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ah! My Goddess, or All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. I am merely borrowing ideas and characters to create a story that others will enjoy. In no way do I intend to make a profit off of this story.

**Translations:**

"Wha?! Dere no mil in dose! Haa hen dey-" (What?! There's no milk in those! How can they-)

"Arr! Le- meh finif oo biolent domoy!" (Argh! Let me finish you violent tomboy!)

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Roll back time from Chapter 6, Naruto is 11 again, not 12.

It's a few months after Naruto and Skuld first became friends with Hanabi in Chapter 4. It's June, summer, and a cat's favorite time to laze in the sun.

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

_The two stared at the smoking remains of their apartment. Sitting in the middle of what used to be the living room was a pink haired green eyed girl, covered with charred and tattered clothing, and bawling her eyes out._

_They turned to glare at each other. "It was your turn to tell her," they both said at the same time._

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-  
**Chapter 7: Miya-Chan's Less than Normal Day**

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

(Scroll back to several hours earlier)

An exhausted-looking girl slowly staggered into the undamaged kitchen of the currently intact apartment.

"Wow! Skuld-chan. You missed an awesome sunrise!" Naruto said from his seat at the table. His eyes remained fixed to the scroll in front of him.

There was a grunt of reply before the freezer door opened.

Naruto reached out and picked up an end of his spoon. Scooping a spoonful of cereal from the bowl, he slowly opened his mouth...

"SKULD BOMB!"

BOOM!

Surprise was near total. Right before Skuld's special bomb blew up, Naruto had managed to throw his spoon away and leap out of his chair. The blast tossed him away like a feather in the wind. He crashed backfirst into the wall moments later. It crumpled under the impact.

There he laid, within the remains of their kitchen wall, stunned and swirly-eyed.

He regained his senses a minute later. Sitting up, he shook his head to clear the cobwebs before he turned to his raven-haired roommate.

"What was that for?!" He angrily demanded.

"We're out of ice cream!" came the near-panicked reply.

A small bowl landed on his head as he gaped in shock. Milk and cereal bits slowly trickled down his hair.

"You're kidding!" He shouted, as he used his sleeve to wipe his face. "You almost killed me because we're out of ice cream?!"

"I had a rough night okay!" the girl shouted back.

"Couldn't you have something else for breakfast for once?" Not waiting for a reply, he held up a beaten box of cereal. "How about this?" When Skuld said nothing, he held up a bar of chocolate. "Chocolate then?" still no reaction, so he decided to pull out the big guns.

"No one says no to ramen," he cheerfully called out as he held up a cup of the instant stuff.

BOOM!

A blackened, startled Naruto coughed once before he looked down. "Ahh! That was my last bowl!" he shrieked. He felt cold. Lonely. Empty. He needed a hug! Using the last of his strength, he started crawling toward Skuld.

Skuld sniffed. "Good riddance."

Naruto's world shattered from his roommate's lack of sympathy and he fell, screaming, into the abyss.

"Ramen ramen ramen!" the blond boy softly moaned as he laid in his spot with a dazed expression on his face.

"No more ramen!" The girl shouted, disgusted with the stuff after that two-month stint where Naruto used their entire food budget to empty an entire shelf at the grocery store. Even with 30 different flavors, she had quickly grown tired of the stuff.

"You destroyed my last ramen!" Naruto shouted as a red aura enveloped him.

"Ee!" Skuld shouted in surprise as he tackled her, knocking her to the floor. "Stop! Naruto!" she shouted.

"It's all your fault!" the blond boy accused as he prepared to make her cry and apologize.

He suddenly found his cheek pressed against the floor, the taller girl having somehow freed herself before reversing the situation.

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't finished the ice cream last nig-" Skuld started to say.

Naruto quickly cut in. "What are you talking about! I had a red bean popsicle for dess-" he never got a chance to finish when Skuld suddenly sat on him. He struggled underneath her small palm, trying to reach upwards and latch onto her vest or something to pull her off.

Through great effort, Naruto finally managed to break free of the hand of doom and throw his roommate off. He started to sit up, only to wince as he was smacked upon the head.

"That's ice cream!" Skuld shouted before she she grabbed the corners of his mouth and pulled outwards stretching his face into something remarkably funny.

"Wha?! Dere no mil in dose! Haa hen dey-" Naruto tried to argue as he tried attacking Skuld the same way. Too bad Skuld was experienced with the ways of child combat. She also had the advantage of longer arms. The most her roommate could do was paw futilely at her face.

"Yes they are!" Skuld shouted as she stretched his mouth out even more.

"Arr! Le- meh finif oo biolent domoy!"

"Wha-", Skuld uttered in surprise. "You!" Her fury quickly returned. She immediately halted her attempts to disfigure his mouth. Instead, she hauled him up and threw him at a nearby wall before grabbing onto the front of his shirt and hauling him up. "I can't believe you said that! If anyone is a tomboy, it's Hanabi!" She cried angrily as she shook the boy.

"I'm sorry?" a quiet, somewhat ghostly voice asked from behind her.

The scene froze.

Skuld slowly turned to look at the newcomer. The white-eyed girl was still clad in her nightwear but her nice long hair was neat and tidy indicating that she had been preparing for the day when the noise from down the hall attracted her attention.

"Hanabi! How nice of you to visit! Did we keep you waiting long?" Skuld sweetly said as she released her grip on Naruto's collar and redirected the conversation.

Naruto fell to the floor with an oomph.

Hanabi shook her head and sighed. "Memory loss at your old age, Skuld-san?" she looked up before poking the older girl in the shoulder. "Let me remind you, I slept over. In your low-class room," the younger girl replied.

"Hanabi, Hanabi," Skuld tsked. "If you're going to try and insult me, try using something better like..." she paused before a look of fury appeared on her face. "Y-You brat!" she shouted.

Naruto snagged Skuld's collar before she had a chance to pounce on Hanabi and deliver divine wrath. "Ah haha, it's time to go shopping isn't it Skuld-chan?"

It wouldn't be good if Skuld managed to kill the heir of their best customer.

He quickly ran out of the apartment with a screaming Skuld in tow. The fact that they were both still in their nightclothes did not occur to him until he reached town. Once there, it wasn't the warm May air passing through his thin pajama that made him realize. It was his roommate running into a nearby clothing store with him in tow that did the trick.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Soon after, Hanabi, dressed in her normal kimono, closed the door as she left Naruto and Skuld's apartment. She was heading home to have breakfast with her family.

The sound of someone leaving, went unnoticed to the remaining occupant in the household as she continued to sleep.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Unyaaaa," yawned a small girl as she woke up. Her hair might have been pink and when she opened her eyes they might have been green, but this wasn't Sakura. No, this was Miya, and she'd be insulted if you called her otherwise. Besides, her hair was a darker pink, almost purplish, and her forehead was much more normal sized.

Taking some time to gaze blankly at the strange patterns on her blanket, the girl in question finally decided to leave her warm bed. Unfortunately, she was tied up tight. Really tight. So tight that caterpillars would have a hard time moving. She, squirmed, struggled, and grunted against her thick blankets for several minutes before the entangling covers finally decided to give up and let her free.

Once she was on her hands and knees, she padded sleepily in a circle upon the bed for a moment.

Her forearms collapsed soon after, leaving her derrier sticking high in the air. It flopped onto the bed soon after, because the pink-haired girl had lost the will to hold it up when she fell asleep again.

-o-o-o-o-o-

When she woke up again, she was forced to repeat her epic struggle against the blankets. Like last time, she emerged victorious.

After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and stretching in a catlike manner, her eyes opened and a bright smile lit her face. It was going to be a great day!

-o-o-o-o-o-  
(Living Room)

"Good morning everyone!" Miya shouted as she pushed her bedroom door open and bounded out of the room.

Silence.

"Eh?" she asked as question marks appeared over her head.

-o-o-o-o-  
(Cut to the kitchen)

Miya's head appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Mr. Naruto? Miss Skuld?" she asked, looking in.

She curiously studied the mess for a moment before turning away.

The end of her long pink hair remained visible in the doorway for a bit longer before it disappeared with its owner.

-o-o-o-o-  
(Cut to Skuld's laboratory)

_Do Not Enter_, hung on the simple door.

"Miss Skuld?" Miya asked, not bothering to knock as she pushed the door open slightly to timidly peer in.

There was a loud SNAP from a stray spark.

Startled, Miya quickly slammed the door shut. She stood in front of the door for a moment, panting heavily in fear.

-o-o-o-o-o-  
(Cut to Naruto's room)

"Mr. Naruto! Wakey wakey!" Miya shouted as she barged into the messy room.

She froze and looked down. "Aa." her foot had caught on something beneath the clothes. Ahh!" she shouted as she flailed wildly.

It was a lost cause and there was a thud as she face planted the floor.

"Eh heh heh, I guess I'm still a bit stupid and clumsy," she said once the surprise wore off. She sat up, embarrassedly rubbing the back of her head, a habit that she had picked up from Naruto. She waited to hear Mr. Naruto comfortingly say, 'Really? I hadn't noticed. Don't give up then, Miya-chan!'

Silence.

Miya opened her eyes and looked up. "Mr. Naruto?"

The bed was empty.

-o-o-o-o-o-  
(Cut to Skuld's room)

Knock knock knock

"Miss Skuld, I can't find Mr. Naruto anywhere," Miya's sad muffled voice came from the other side.

"Miss Skuld?" her muffled voice asked.

The door cracked open as Miya peered in..."Miss Skuld?"

There was no one inside of the semi-messy room.

The door shut quietly.

-o-o-o-o-o-  
(Living Room)

"Mr. Naruto?" The couch tilted as Miya looked underneath.

"Miss Skuld?" The tall, extremely thin, lamp was moved aside as Miya looked to see if anyone was hiding behind it.

"Anyone?" she cried before she found a wooden chair and placed it under the ceiling fan.

Climbing onto the chair, Miya stood on the tips of her toes as she struggled to see if someone was hidden above the blades

She blinked. "Mya?" she said before, "Aaaah!" she lost her balance and tumbled off of the chair. She landed in a heap upon the ground.

Painfully pushing herself up, she saw that the chair had fallen over onto its side. "Owie."

-o-o-o-o-

'Are they back already?' Hanabi thought curiously as she reached the top stair and walked over to the door of her friends' apartment. It sounded like there was a fight going on inside of there.

She reached up and knocked.

A beraggled girl opened the door with a hopeful expression on her face. Her face fell upon seeing who it was not.

"Miya?" Hanabi asked curiously, taking in the other girl's crestfallen expression and less than proper appearance.

"Miss Hanabi! I've been abandoned!" the taller girl cried as she leapt forward and hugged the Hyuuga tightly.

"What?" Hanabi asked in confusion. She winced when she felt her back crack slightly.

"Mr. Naruto. Miss Skuld, I can't find them anywhere!" the girl moaned, her eyes losing focus.

-o-o-o-o-

(In Miya's mind)

"Naruto! Let's get rid of Miya. She's stupid and clumsy and destroys all of my inventions," commanded a demonic looking Skuld.

"What? No!" A Naruto in flowing pristine angelic robes protested, in a funny high-pitched voice.

That was when a cereal bowl crashed into the wall right next to him.

"Ah! That was my breakfast!" Naruto cried.

"Get rid of her now or I will do something worse?" Skuld threatened, a forked tongue clearly visible.

"..." Naruto continued to look sadly at the bowl of spilled milk.

Skuld suddenly held up a lit bomb and a small cup of ramen.

Naruto's sixth sense went off. An innocent was in trouble nearby. He looked up and his eyes widened in horror. "Wait! No, Not the ramen!" he pleaded.

"Miya-chan?" Skuld reminded him.

"I'll never bow to your whims!" Naruto valiantly said as he stood up to his full height. He looked rather cool, especially with the sparkles shining all around him.

"You have until the count of 3," Skuld stated coldly. "3."

The sparkles disappeared. "Ramen-chan!" Naruto shouted, a distraught expression overcoming him as he reached for the cup.

"2,"Skuld mercilessly said.

"No! Must keep Miya-chan!" Naruto shouted, determination filling his face.

"1..." Skuld counted, looking impatient.

"I won't," the expression of determination remained.

"Ahh!" the boy shrieked in horror as the explosion take place. He prostrated himself in front of the remains of the ramen, "I give up! We'll get rid of Miya-chan! Ramen-chan! I'm soo sorry!"

The scene fades to black and Skuld's evil laugh can be heard in the distance.

-o-o-o-o-o-

(In the real world)

Tears formed in the catgirl's eyes as she sniffed several times. She was about to become a tear fountain in a matter of moments.

"Waaaaaaah!" the waterworks had begun.

When the other girl burst out crying, Hanabi had no idea what to think. After all, she had just finished telling Miya that Naruto-kun and Miss Skuld were out shopping. Maybe Miya was distraught because she wanted to go as well?

She looked up and realized that Banpei II-san was waving its arms frantically in the air. Was it trying to attract her attention?

A small light popped out from its body, and words formed in midair.

"HELP ME STOP HER PLEASE," the small robot projected.

Hanabi stared at Skuld's pride and joy in confusion.

"LOOK BEHIND ME," the robot projected.

Hanabi looked up, only to see a large painting fall from the wall and fall onto an overturned couch. The room was far messier than this morning.

A thoughtful look dawned on her face. Banpei II-san liked a clean tidy place...

"HOLD HER STILL FOR A MOMENT," the robot ordered. Hanabi did nothing except watch with a bored expression as the robot slowly approached.

3 meters...

2 meters...

1 meter...

Miya suddenly twitched. She let go of Hanabi to look behind her.

"DARN 0.45796 METERS TO GO," the robot wrote as it froze in place. In one of its hands was what appeared to be an extremely large injection needle. Even elephants would cringe in fear at the size of that thing.

"..." the pink-haired girl turned white.

"M-Me" she said with a disbelieving expression on her face. "Myaaah!" Miya shrieked as she pushed Hanabi aside and ran out the front door. In her rush, she didn't notice her shirt catch on the lever that readied the security system. Needless to say, she pulled it without meaning to and the entire apartment shifted slightly as gears hidden deep within its depths started to turn.

"AND NEVER COME BACK!!," the robot projected after the fleeing girl.

"It was mean of you to scare Miya away like that," Hanabi chided the small robot.

"SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO RUN ACTUALLY."

"I see," the white-eyed girl accepted calmly. "Are either Naruto-kun or Miss Skuld in?" she asked as she took another look at the disaster zone called a living room.

"I'M AFRAID NOT."

Hanabi sighed. "Inconvenient. I suppose I will have to attend the parade without them then.. Please let them know that I will be by later, Banpei-nisan," She bowed to the two foot robot and walked toward the stairs.

"IT'S BANPEI II-SAN!" the robot projected after her. Hanabi didn't notice. Once her head left its line of sight as she made her way down the stairs, the robot closed the door.

Not good. Closing the door activated the security system. Hidden gears started clanking again...

-o-o-o-o-

Miya eventually found herself in a large crowd.

She wandered around happily, curious about the many sights, sounds, and people. It was apparent she didn't leave the house much. It wasn't from lack of trying on Naruto's or Skuld's part, the girl just preferred the warm coziness of their apartment over the great outdoors.

"Nya?" She shrieked in delight upon seeing the fish stand. She slowly reached forward.

**- Slap! -**

"Ow!" Miya yelped as she quickly withdrew her hand.

"Where are your parents little girl?" the owner of the fish stand demanded.

"I don't think I have any..." Miya tearfully said, as she tenderly rubbed the stinging from her hand.

"Then where do you live?" someone nearby asked.

"With Miss Skuld and Mr. Naru-" Miya happily started to say.

There several gasps from around her..

"The demon-boy?" asked a passerby to his wife.

"Mr. Naruto is a boy...but I didn't know he was a demon," Miya replied confused.

"He's pure evil. He'll kill you while you sleep!" someone warned.

"He will?" Miya curiously asked.

Someone reached out and gently took her hand.

"Come with me, I can provide you with a safe place to stay," said a seedy looking man.

"Miss Skuld said never to trust strangers," Miya replied as she pulled her hand out of his grip. The man nodded in agreement and lumbered away without a protest.

"Skuld? Isn't that the girl that lives with the demonboy? I'd be happy to take her in but she won't leave."

"Poor thing, to be corrupted at such a young age!" someone said..

"I know!" seconded her friend.

Miya couldn't take it anymore. "Miss Skuld and Mr. Naruto are the nicest people I've ever known! I can't forgive you for saying such bad things about them! You...you meanies!"

The people around her sweatdropped. "Did she just call us meanies?"

Suddenly the fish vendor yelped. Everyone looked over to see him hopping on one foot.

Miya had kicked him hard in the shin.

"Alright girl, that's far enough. You deserve a timeout." someone shouted as the group turned back to the girl in the center...only...

"Where did she go?" someone asked.

-o-o-o-o-

Miya was exhausted, the group that was following her seemed to grow larger with time. Some of them had even taken to the rooftops. If it weren't for a camouflage cloth that she found and Naruto teaching her how to use one, they would have caught her already.

The crowd surrounded a section of a wall that looked different from the rest. Very different.

I mean, what modern building had a 1.5 meter by 1.5 meter area of the wall made from sod?

"hee..." the small girl giggled nervously as she lowered the cloth that she was hiding behind before she suddenly pointed at a spot above and behind the gathered crowd.

"Oh my god! A UFO!" she shouted. It was a trick that Mr. Naruto had pulled on her countless times and she always fell for it, so why wouldn't they. She crouched and covered her head.

"Does she honestly think that will work?" someone in the mob asked as they walked toward her.

**Bang! Bang! Whud! Screeeeech! **

That, my friends, was the sound of a large metal object with oddly blinking lights falling from the sky, ricocheting off of two buildings, plowing into the earth and screeching to a halt...coincidentally running over several members of the angry mob in the process. The rest were left to gape at their fallen comrades.

I suppose that I forgot to mention Miya and Skuld had quickly learned to scatter whenever Naruto used this trick.

For those gaping at their friends, when the the top of the flying saucer popped open, they soon had something new to goggle at.

One of the two sardines stopped looking at the assembled crowd to turn to the other. "Next time I'm driving," it said. To those that don't speak alien, it sounded suspiciously like, "Next time I'm driving." No, this was not a mistake in translation. The alien really did speak in a language that was understandable to everyone involved.

The reason why was was soon revealed when the UFO, its passengers, and the trail that it created, faded away revealing those that it had flattened when it crash landed. Upon closer inspection, those laid out on the streets were unharmed in everything but their pride.

Unfortunately, the UFO had been too good of a distraction. Instead of running away, Miya had stayed to drool at the sardines that had appeared. When the UFO disappeared, both parties were left staring at each other for a moment.

Letting out a screech of terror, Miya scrambled away.

Those on the ground quickly picked themselves up and ran after the fleeing girl, shouting bloody murder the entire way. They were closely followed by those that weren't involved in the accident.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"This is crazy! How fast can a girl be?" someone shouted as they struggled to keep up. For a second there it seemed like they were about to catch her. Then she somehow began running even faster.

-o-o-o-o-o-

In her hurry, Miya ran straight into steel door that guarded the entrance to the apartment. She bounced right off and landed on her rear end.

Simultaneously rubbing her nose and her butt, she attempted to open the door with the only free limb she had available, her foot. She fell over once again when she lost her balance.

"There she is!" someone in the crowd shouted when it collected at the foot of the apartment.

"Eee!" Miya shrieked as she ripped the door open and dashed in.

Someone in the crowd moved to chase after her, only to be grabbed and hauled back.

"Hang on, this is where the demon lives right?"

"I heard that the house explodes if you trespa-"

They saw a blinding flash of light come out from the apartment before the ground started to shake unsteadily...

**Boom!** Since sound was slower than light, the noise of the explosion arrived moments later.

When their vision cleared, the apartment in front of them was roofless and the walls were tilting dangerously.

"..." A strong wind rushed past the group as they gaped at the destruction.

One of the walls fell over.

"Nothing to see here." someone quickly as he left before another wall could fall over.

"Good day to you all." someone else said as she too disappeared. The crowd quickly dispersed after that.

-o-o-o-o-  
(Zoom back several moments ago when the apartment was still intact.)

Miya struggled weakly as the net held her captive in the middle of the living room. This was Skuld's latest security system after the last one really did blow up the apartment.

Meanwhile, In Skuld's laboratory, Banpei II-san discovered a large red button as it was cleaning. It examined the button closely before it beeped twice.

'...OBJECT IDENTIFIED: SELF-DESTRUCT BUTTON, DO NOT TOUCH' scrolled across its projected display.

It started to walk away. Unfortunately, it had to pass under one of Skuld's incomplete inventions to leave the lab.

That was when a stray spark struck the robot, causing it to deactivate. Backup power soon kicked in, but the robot's eyes were glowing a bright red. Its servos whined loudly as it zoomed toward the button at speeds greater than its specifications allowed.

Beep!

"MWAHAHAHA," the small robot projected in a red sinister-looking font.

Everything turned white.

The explosion freed Miya from the net, but when the dust cleared up and she had a chance to look at her surroundings...

She sniffed as tears filled her eyes...

"Noooo! I did it again! Skuld-san...I'm s-sorry!"

She started bawling.

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The two stared at the smoking remains of their apartment. Sitting in the middle of what used to be the living room was a pink haired green eyed girl, covered with charred and tattered clothing, and bawling her eyes out.

They turned to glare at each other. "It was your turn to tell her," they both said at the same time.

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Omake! Ichi!

(That Night )

"I don't think Miya was an ordinary housecat," Skuld deadpanned as she stared into Naruto's eyes. They were both lying on their side upon a single large futon.

"She was!" Naruto defended as he squirmed a little. 'Are you almost free yet?' he whispered to his bedmate. The two were bound tightly in a thick rope that Miya had found lying around what remained of the apartment. It wasn't so much that Miya had tied them up, but the fact that she had the cunning and intelligence to catch them both by surprise that bothered them.

'Shh...'

"What is everyone talking about?" came the quiet mumbling of the household android as she sleepily sat up from her spot beside Naruto.

"Ah! uh, nothing Miya-chan!" Skuld quickly said.

"Yes yes, go back to sleep!" Naruto seconded as he struggled to turn to the girl behind him.

With amazing timing the ropes binding Skuld decided to choose that exact moment to break apart away with a **Snap**! Brittle plastic makes that sound when bent to the point where it snaps apart. Rubber bands make that sound when they break and snap back. Ropes, made from hemp, do NOT make that sound when they're cut apart. Skuld was thus understandably confused when the ropes loudly announced her freedom to everyone within three meters.

"Unya?" Miya perked up immediately at the sound. She turned to look.

"Myaaa!" She screeched as she was suddenly bowled over.

"Run Skuld! Save yourself!" Naruto shouted through his teeth as he struggled to hold the catgirl down without the aid of his hands or feet.

Skuld wasted little time in hightailing it out of the room.

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**A/N:**

This chapter inspired by an episode of All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku TV. I think it was episode 11. You'll find some situations and lines are similar, but overall the story is different.

Truthfully, this chapter was created before Chapter 6. It's where I got Naruto's super-genjutsu attack from. So I was sitting in front of this chapter and wondering whether I should change Miya's special attack. I finally decided not to. It reinforced the genjutsu attack, plus Miya uses a different trigger.

Naruto uses both "The sky is falling," and "What's that!" However, when he uses "Oh my god! Duck!" the crowd tends to be bowled over by, oddly enough, a super enormous bowl of ramen. It's a horrible thing to get hit by.

**Acknowledgements:**

**Quathis** for his little green men review. We get fish instead.

**reviewer** for pointing out a mistake that I made in a description below. I had copied and pasted Miya's special attack from Naruto's list of attacks in Chapter 6. I didn't read it completely when I edited it though, so Miya's attack apparently dropped ramen bowls.

**Extra's Corner**

**Miya's Special Jutsus:  
**_**"Oh My God! A UFO!"**_ A-Rank Genjutsu. Prereq: 1 Goddess living with you.  
- AOE attack. Runs over whoever is in its path.  
_Advantages:  
_- Sealless  
- Fast Cast Time  
- Uses No Chakra  
_Disadvantage:  
_- Delayed Action of Approx 6 seconds (The time needed for someone to turn to a friend and question the caster's intelligence. He/she is usually the first to go.).  
- Stingy requirements  
_Details:  
_Miya copied this from Naruto. There are some subtle differences between her version and Naruto's version. Personally, I'd rather get hit by her attack than Naruto's. I mean, how often can you brag that you were run over by aliens?  
Prerequisites:  
- First of all, because it's a Genjutsu, it requires that the opponent could actually see you point or hear you shout otherwise your opponent will be unaffected. It's strongest if the nin can see AND hear. If the nin is blind (Using chakra to see sometimes doesn't count as blind) or deaf, the jutsu is greatly weakened but it could still succeed. If the nin cannot see at all or hear at all...this jutsu fails.  
- Secondly, the caster has to honestly believe that it could happen. Unfortunately, this also means that without some reasonably solid cover, the caster will be run over as well.  
- Third, someone must question the caster's intelligence. This means that his opponents must disbelieve... or they have to be smarter than bricks.  
- The prereq is important. Some believe that getting such a powerful jutsu almost for free is magic. Hence you need the goddess' magic. However, the real reason is because a goddess' presence can make you believe that anything is possible.  
**Addendum:**  
- Once this is used once successfully, you probably can't use it against the same person again. That's because the third point won't be satisfied. However, Skuld still dodges out of the way because she found out that if she stood there and said that it wasn't going to happen, it's going to happen.  
- Miya is a special case. It's true that Naruto cannot use this attack on Miya because she'll believe him, an unsatisfied the third point. But she's so gullible she'll always look and see where he's pointing before wildly scrambling to duck and hide.

_A.K.A.:_ Divine retribution. 'Told you I'm not kidding' attack.  
_Users: _Miya-chan ("What's that behind you?!"). Naruto ("The Sky is Falling!", "What's that behind you?!")

Skuld's Inventions:

**Skuld Bomb  
**Special nonlethal boom booms.  
Details:  
- Details are sketchy on this weapon. It's supposed to be magical, but Skuld currently can't use magic.  
- The effectiveness of these bombs are frequently called into question.  
- Despite having similar effects, these bombs are not concussive notes given a three-dimensional form.

**Security System  
**Used to stop intruders  
Details:  
- Second version  
- After the first version blew up the apartment, incidentally creating a giant fire in the abandoned apartment district, Naruto forced Skuld make a less crazy security system.  
...Less crazy, how OOC of him. Not really. In exchange, he asked Skuld if she had any tips on leveling Sasuke's house without being found out. Talk about adding fuel to the fire.

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Updated Character Info!

**Miya  
**Miya has pink hair and green eyes, but she looks nothing like Sakura. Smaller forehead for one. ∗snicker∗

- Android with a cat's brain. But you really can't tell she's not human.  
- Series Origin: Original Character (based on Nuku Nuku from All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku)  
- Age: ?  
- Birthdate: October 11  
- Blood Type: ?  
- Known Immediate Family: Naruto (creator, brother), Skuld (creator, sister)

Traits:  
- Pure Hearted  
- Holds Naruto and Skuld in high esteem  
- Good girl  
- Low Maintenance  
- Forgives easily  
- Cute  
- Loyal  
- Simple  
- Resistance to illusions (not completely immune because she isn't totally a robot.)  
- Lives in the Present  
- Loves cat things  
- Crybaby  
- Worrywart  
- Naive  
- Coward  
- Too easy to take advantage of.


	10. Ch8: Troubled Times

_When life gives you lemons, blame Naruto._

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

**A Wish to an End**  
by MingShun

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ah! My Goddess, or All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. I am merely borrowing ideas and characters to create a story that others will enjoy. In no way do I intend to make a profit off of this story.

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_Roll back far into the past. Naruto isn't even 11 anymore, he's 10 again._

_It has been a few weeks since the Banpei incident in Chapter 2. Since that time, the relationship between Skuld and Naruto has become a bit more comfortable. _

_It's not perfect yet, especially on Skuld's side, but she's willing to talk to him in a civil manner now. This also means that she's willing to demonstrate her newest inventions to Naruto as well. _

-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-∗-  
_Chapter 8: Troubled Times_  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

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"Isn't this the greatest?" Skuld happily asked Naruto as she swiftly closed a hatch.

Naruto moved closer to the medium sized box and studied it with some curiosity. "What is it?" he finally asked.

Skuld grinned, "This, this can only be described as the greatest invention that mankind has ever seen!" she said with a wink. "The one, the only, personal computer! Mr. P C for short."

"..."

"?"

"What does it do?"

"I'm glad you asked." There was a click as Skuld hit a button on the box and a generator in the corner quietly whirred to life. Seconds later, a nearly-clear flat pane about the size of a cereal box, but much thinner, appeared from thin-air.

Skuld started to tap parts of the surprisingly solid screen. "With this, I can calculate numbers at speeds of light. What's 345 times 89645?"

Naruto shrugged helplessly.

Skuld thought it over for a brief moment before her hand danced on thin air. "345 times 89,645..." Numbers were appearing on the screen. "...is 30,927,525." She hit one final button and the number that she had just announced out loud was displayed on the screen.

Uh...

"Not only that, I can use this to control the lighting in my room." She pushed another translucent button, and a desk lamp lit up. Another button and a nightlight in a corner showed up as well.

"It's far from complete, but what do you think of it so far?" she excitedly asked.

"Boring∼" Naruto bluntly replied as he picked his ear.

"W-What?!" Skuld asked, aghast. Her grip tightened on the table that Mr P C was seated upon, causing the wood to crack slightly.

"Yeah, why don't you make fun things?"

Skuld took several calming breaths. "L-like?" the raven-haired girl finally asked as she struggled to handle this situation in a mature manner.

"How about something that can destroy a village? You can do that can't you?"

"Y-Yes..." Skuld stuttered out, her face becoming an angry red.

Surprise appeared on Naruto's face before he grinned widely . "C'mon, make it! I wanna see!"

Skuld's bangs were shadowing her face. "Y-y-y-"

Naruto leaned in curiously. "Skuld-chan?"

The raven-haired girl suddenly looked up with a furious expression on her face. "Don't call me that!" she shouted before a slap rang through the room.

Naruto spun around from the force of the hit.

Skuld stared at her reddening hand for a moment before her face fell. "I-I'm sorry." she quietly said. "But it really angers me when people want to use technology to harm others. It should never be designed for that purpose."

Naruto sat up, holding a hand to his cheek.

She pointed to the door. "Please leave."

"..."

"Please," she quietly asked again.

Naruto soon found himself leaving Skuld's room, and the door shut quietly behind him.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld returned to her seat and sat down before she turned to look at the computer screen that had been following her.

"..."

_Error 2346: Hardware protection fault. Unrecoverable. Rebooting system in 9 seconds..._

_7...6...5...4..._

Skuld picked up the manual that was propped against the computer and opened it.

_3...2..._

**Do not reboot Mr. P C while it is interfaced with other equipment. Critical system failures will occur.**

_1..._

"..." Skuld had a resigned expression on her face.

_Have a nice day. _

_-byeeoop-_

Several explosions sounded inside of the room. Naruto quickly ran to the door and began banging on it. "Skuld-chan! Are you okay?!"

The door opened and he found himself gagging as smoke left the room like rats fleeing a ship.

When the smoke cleared, he found his roommate lying facedown on her bed with her head buried beneath her pillow.

He quietly entered the room.

"Skuld-chan?"

"I asked you to leave." Skuld said in a neutral tone of voice as she pulled the pillow off her head and turned to him with a neutral expression.

"But..."

"Banpei II-san!"

A small robot ran into the room and grabbed Naruto by the back of his jumpsuit. Before Naruto could react, he was hauled right out the door.

"Wait!" Naruto cried out from the hallway before the door to Skuld's room closed, courtesy of a really short robot.

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The TV was on and showing an action movie when the screen changed and an exotic woman in very revealing clothing appeared.

Naruto groaned. Just when it was getting good too. Stupid news. What was it this time? A hurricane coming from lightning country?

When a long leg stepped out from the screen, Naruto spewed out a giant mouthful of milk before he rubbed his eyes vigorously. He looked again.

It was no joke. Aliens really were coming from his TV!

Naruto immediately picked up the largest object that he could find and threw it as hard as he could.

"OW!"

"..." Naruto stared for a moment before he suddenly grinned and reached down to pick up something else.

"Oh no you don't!"

BOOM!

-o-o-o-o-o-

"What's with all the nois- Urd?!" She turned her head and looked down. She stared at the smoke that was drifting lazily off of her roommate's twitching body. "What did you do to the kid?!"

"Skuld...is that...you?" Urd started to shake.

Skuld quickly recognized the signs. "I really hope you're not about to laugh." she puffed up menacingly.

...pffft. Ahahahahaha

Picking up the rubric's cube from her smoking unconscious roommate's hand, Skuld hurled it as hard as she could.

"OW! What the hell is with you brats?!" Urd angrily demanded as she rubbed the new bump on her head.

The apartment shook slightly when a lightning bolt struck the apartment. Such was the power of the godly reprimand that the interior of the apartment turned a bright white for a brief moment.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Seriously," Urd snickered, this is great. "I heard about it. I've seen the pictures.. But to actually see it in person."

Skuld grit her teeth. "Why are you here, Urd?"

"Can't the older sister visit the younger anymore?"

"Not when the older sister came in place of the favorite sister."

Urd slammed a hand on the table. First you throw toys at me, then you tell me that there's no alcohol in your apartment, and now you have the gall to insult me? She snarled.

Skuld fearlessly stood up. "Yeah? So. Are you going to do anything about it?" she challenged.

Urd smirked. "Yeah."

"..." Skuld had a bad feeling.

"I think it's time that my youngest sister learned a little lesson about respect," Urd said as her smirk widened further.

Skuld soon found herself backed against a wall. "Stay back! I'm warning you!"

Urd continued to approach. "Are you scared yet?"

"No."

Urd paused before she shrugged and advanced.

"Get back!"

"Gotcha!"

"Aieeee!" A rubber ducky flew through the air as the two fought.

The two finally separated after several seconds of intense combat.

"Ow! You bit me!" Skuld said with surprise.

"You're not the only one that knows how to fight dirty!" Urd angrily shot back. She leapt at her sister again.

More shrieks filled the air, but Urd's greater size gave her the advantage. A very big advantage. When the smoke cleared, she had Skuld in a chokehold. "Well? Are you going to admit defeat."

"No!"

A great grin filled Urd's face as she proceeded to give Skuld a mega-noogie.

"Agh! Stop it! When I get my powers back, you'll regret this!"

Urd stopped with her torture for one brief moment. "Hmm? What happened to the all work and no play Skuld that I know?"

"What are you talking about?" Skuld demanded with a half-lidded expression.

"Could it be?" Just as she grabbed Skuld's cheeks and prepared to pull, Skuld managed to break free and back away several steps.

Skuld patted herself off and stood up, a serious expression on her face. "Why are you here?"

"Down to business already? That's the Skuld I know! Heh, to let you know, you're right. Bell sent me in her place."

"Why didn't she come herself?"

"Don't you know what day it is?"

A thoughtful look appeared on Skuld's face. "Oh?" She nodded, a slightly depressed look appearing on her face. "Oh, that's right,"

Urd slapped a friendly hand on her younger sister's shoulder. "She really wanted to come though, because she had a message for you."

"Don't be so hard on the container of the nine-tailed spirit, right?"

Urd had a confused look on her face. "How'd you know?"

"It's the same thing that Belldandy has been saying for the past five...six times now."

Urd started laughing. "And yet you still make his life awful."

Emotions passed across Skuld's face. Most of them negative. "Because he's annoying! And he's stupid. And never serious. And...and...And how do you know this stuff anyway?" she asked as she turned to her sister.

"As loyal caring sisters, no punishment will keep us from following what you're doing here on Earth," Urd proudly spouted.

"Don't meddle in my business, I can handle things myself."

"Of course. Of course. But don't forget, it's not just you that we're watching over."

_Naruto..._ Skuld thought before she straightened up. "What do you want me to do then?"

"You should know, sis."

Skuld let out a breath. "Then why did you come in the first place. I was leaving the room to apologize when you appeared."

Urd sighed and her chipper mood seemed to fade away slightly. "Yeah yeah, we keep forgetting that you've had plenty of time to grow up."

The two sat in silence for a moment before Urd finally stood up.

"Where are you going?" Skuld asked as she stood up as well.

"You know the rules sis. Don't want to break anymore than we have to."

Following the rules? Urd? Now Skuld was suspicious. "Urd, what are you hiding?"

"...Ah hahahaha, it's nothing! We'll visit again soon. Both of us."

"..." Skuld's accusing stare remained, as if she was telling Urd to answer the question.

"Better have some liquor in the house next time sis, or I won't be happy." Urd quickly said, trying to dodge the issue.

"..." Skuld continued to stare accusingly at her platinum-haired sister, as if she was telling Urd to stop avoiding the question.

"I really have to go now. I have a date and heaven."

Before Urd could run, Skuld had a hold of her arm. It was as if she was telling Urd that if she didn't answer the question, she wasn't going to leave.

Urd sighed. "Something is brewing, but it's nothing definite, alright. C'mon, enjoy your time here on earth. Bell and I will keep our eyes and ears open in Asgard. We'll let you know if something comes up."

Before Skuld could reply, Urd's attitude flipped abruptly.

"So! Till next time, squirt!" she cheerfully said as she gave grabbed Skuld and gave her a noogie.

"You old hag!" Skuld shouted angrily, stomping on her older sister's foot.

Urd yelped before tightening her arm around her sister's neck.

"Impudent brat, show some respect!"

"Never!" Skuld shouted as she broke out of her sister's head lock. She turned and, "Biiih!" childishly stuck her tongue out.

"Ahahahahah" Urd suddenly laughed boisterously as she turned and left the room, but not before saying something.

Skuld did not follow, since she was very confused over what her sister had just said...

_"...That's the Skuld that I used to know. The boy you're living with must be quite interesting."_

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto was just waking up when he saw a bronze skinned woman with white hair put a foot into the TV. No no, there was no damage. The foot went in, as if the solid glass was made of water.

"I'll be back little boy," she said with an exotic grin before she disappeared.

Thinking this was a dream, Naruto laid back down and was soon fast asleep.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Skuld came out the next morning with a sullen look on her face.

"Sorry about yesterday...Naruto," she calmly said, hesitating slightly before adding his name.

A disheveled Naruto was all set to ignore her when he heard the apology. Even though Skuld frequently apologized, he still wasn't used to hearing them. They came so rarely that he couldn't remember when anyone else had ever apologized to him. Oh wait, Hokage-jiji said sorry all the time, but he never could figure out just what the old man was apologizing for. And anyway, the old geezer didn't count.

Naruto's mouth flapped several times as he struggled to figure out just what to say. "Let's go to school," he blurted out.

"W-What?" Had she heard correctly?

But a glint had entered Naruto's eyes when he realized what he had just said. "It'll be fun!" he said as he took her hand.

"Wait!" Skuld managed to shout one last time before their apartment door slammed shut.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld stared at the girls that were bickering directly over the dark boy in the middle. Naruto had been ignoring her since they arrived, he spent the entire time staring affectionately at the pink haired girl. Irritation was starting to well up within her, he had dragged her to school, and now he was ignoring her? Before she could act on her irritation, her attention was drawn to the next chair as someone sat heavily upon it with a fwump.

"Hey good looking. How about we go and get ourselves an ice cream after this?" the boy with facial tattoos confidently said as he tilted his chair backwards at a dangerous angle.

"Hmm..." Skuld looked like she was seriously considering the offer.

"Buzz off dog boy!" Naruto shouted as he came from nowhere and gave the boy's chair leg a vicious kick.

"I wasn't talking to you Dobe," Kiba scowled at Naruto once he recovered control of his chair.

"Yeah? Well I'm talking to you."

"Look, I just want to have a friendly chat with a pretty girl if you don't mind." He turned back to Skuld.

"Yeah. I do." Naruto angrily said as he shoved Kiba away once again.

"Go away dobe. It's none of your business."

"When you're harrassing her, I make it my business."

"I'm not harrassing her!"

"Hold it!" Skuld finally said.

Naruto's attitude flipped a complete 180. "What's up Skuld-chan? he asked, turning to face her before flashing her a sunny smile."

"What's wrong with your neck?"

Naruto's eyes flickered to Sakura before he quickly shouted, "Nothing!" The class fell silent as they watched the drama develop between the two worst students.

Skuld narrowed her eyes before she slowly walked up to her roommate.

"Sit down." she ordered.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Sit down." she repeated.

"No," Naruto said with a cocky grin, as he struggled to hide his shaking knees.

Skuld leaned forward and grabbed his shoulders.

"Skuld-chan, what-are-you-" Naruto nearly squealed as he was forced into the chair. "-doing?!"

And then Skuld started to knead his shoulders.

"Ow ow ow! Skuld! Ow!"

"Good grief!" Skuld sighed loudly before tightening her grip. Naruto cried even louder. A vein appeared on Skuld's forehead. "Stop complaining already. It's your fault for sleeping on the floor last night."

One of the female students scoffed. It just goes to show how stupid the two lowest ranked students were. Didn't they understand that boys and girls shouldn't sleep under the same roof until they were married?

"But but...agh!" Naruto cried again as Skuld continued her tortu-massage.

Kiba seized his chance. "Could I have one too? Unlike the dobe, I'll enjoy it."

Naruto immediately rounded on the Inuzuka. "Get your own-Agh!" he cried as his stiff neck screamed at him.

Before Skuld could unfeelingly tsk at Naruto because it was his fault this time, a door crashed open.

A man followed by his assistant walked into the now-quiet room.

"Alright brats, class is in..." The clean-shaven man who seemed to have an eternal sneer on his face started to say before he paused and looked down at his clipboard for a moment.

"Skuld."

As the entire class turned to face her, Skuld could only make a confused sound. "Uhh..."

"Say 'here'," Naruto quickly urged without turning his head.

"Here," she echoed.

Murmurs broke out throughout the room.

"Ah, the ever elusive Miss Skuld. Tired of skipping classes already? Felt like coming in today, hmm? Do make a habit of it, otherwise you will fail the academy, girl."

"Hai...

"Mitsugi-sensei," the instructor coolly said.

"..."

"You will address me as Mitsugi-sensei." the man coldly said, "Find a seat now and sit."

"Hai Mitsugi-sensei," Skuld said in a neutral tone as she slowly turned and proudly headed for the chair next to Naruto.

"Anyone else want a detention?"

Kiba's chair bounced twice as he practically flew to an empty table.

Seeing that he had the classes' attention, the role calling continued.

"Aburame Shino?"

A boy wearing dark sunglasses sitting in front gave a small, nearly imperceptible, nod.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Iruka stood in front of the class, lecturing to the class. Even though the scarred Chuunin was an assistant teacher, Mitsugi was a lazy bum who relegated the lecturing to his subordinates.

"Missions are arranged in different levels." the scarred Chuunin read from his notes. "There are five main ranks with D-rank being easiest and progressing in difficulty from there. Genin are generally assigned D rank missions with the occasional C rank missions popping up for those teams of exceptional skill.

There are two additional mission ranks that most ninjas do not get to see. "A-ranked missions are generally Jounin level missions. These missions often involve enemy nins, and many that are sent out on these missions rarely return unscathed. Far more difficult than A-ranked are S-ranked missions. These are the most dangerous, but the most rewarding. Only the best nins are given these missions since the likelihood of surviving one of these missions is often very low.

"You're looking at the man who will complete a thousand S-rank missions then!" Naruto shouted as he stood up.

Most of the entire class started laughing. The class dobe would probably die on the first D-ranked mission.

"Sit down Naruto," Iruka coldly said before he paused. His hesitation was brief, and he decided to bite the bullet. "Do you have a question, Miss?"

"Sensei, what sort of missions would a Hokage undertake?"

Iruka was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't often that a student would be interested enough in a lecture to actively participate. He noticed that it was a new face.

"...good question..." Iruka started to say before he looked at his clipboard. The sound of flipping pages echoed through the room as he searched for the attendance sheet. He finally found it, "...Skuld-san. The Hokage generally does not participate in the most dangerous of missions because their death could spell the end of the village. However..."

-o-o-o-

Most of the students were riveted while Iruka covered history...a significant event, or maybe not if one considered today's subject matter.

"...The Fourth Hokage is considered one of the most powerful Hokage to ever lead this village.

"One of his most notable achievements occurred at the lowest point of the war. Konohagakure forces were at an all time low and Konoha's territory had shrunk significantly, with only a fifth being tenable with whatever forces were active. Iwa nins were massed and preparing to assault a critical supply line, the loss of which would devastate our ability to defend our remaining territory by splitting our forces into two. "

"Only twenty nin were available, and the sannin had been called to recover a recently lost outpost. Foreseeing the critical nature of this supply point, the Fourth chose to remain behind. Having been trained by a Sannin, once the sannin departed with a significant portion of the defenders, the Fourth immediately became the commanding officer of the remaining nin. His first order was for them to stay back until he gave the signal to attack."

"The Iwa nins attacked in the morning. Scattered around the ground were strange kunai of a design that they had never seen before. The second-in-command at the time reported that the enemy nin had studied the kunai for a moment before picking them up, perhaps fully intending to use the odd weapons against their creator."

"It was a trap. In moments, nearly fifty nin were killed as the Fourth paired his newest technique with the special kunai to instantly move between each nin and..."

Skuld paused in the middle of her notetaking to scowl at what she had just heard.

-o-o-o-

"NARUTO!"

"Huh, what?!" the blond boy shouted as he sat up and sleepily looked around.

"What is ninja rule number 5?"

"Uhh...don't die?" Naruto guessed.

The entire class started laughing.

"Wrong you idiot! The ninja rule number 5 is that a ninja must show no emotions."

"That's stupid!" Naruto immediately retorted.

Skuld was staring at Naruto as if he had grown a second head.

"Just sit down!" Iruka roared.

The blond boy quickly obeyed before he turned around and grinned. "Don't worry Skuld-chan, I'll get it right next time," he whispered.

"No talking!" Iruka barked.

Skuld stopped staring at Naruto to turn back to the front of the room. She didn't know why this feeling of betrayal was welling up within her.

-o-o-o-

Mitsugi-sensei finally made his appearance during the practical portion of the academy.

"Seeing how we have someone finally show up, why don't we call the eternally tardy to participate in this demonstration."

Skuld slowly walked up and took a weak stance. It looked just plain wrong. Nothing like what they taught in the academy. In truth, it was a knock-off of a stance that she had seen from a martial arts manga many many years ago.

The instructor quickly made some changes to her stance, but it was obvious that his efforts were just as half-assed. He finally walked away and turned around.

"...okay, attack me."

Skuld didn't move.

"Is something wrong?"

"No." Skuld replied in a calm tone of voice.

"You can't be squeamish about these things." the teacher said in an irritated tone of voice, "Hesitation could mean death."

"Yes?" Skuld asked in a neutral tone of voice.

"...Very well," the Chuunin coldly acceded. "I will tell you now that I lost a teammate when I was younger. There was nothing that I could have done to save her."

"..."

"But I lived. Why? Because I didn't hesitate. As the enemy nin killed my useless teammate, I stabbed him in the back. And while he was recoiling in pain, I ended his life."

A spike of anger pierced the veil of calm that had surrounded her. To disrespect someone's memory like that. "How dare you..."

"What was I supposed to do then? The instructor asked in an equally cold voice. Pull out some cake and cookies and ask him politely to leave?"

"No-" Skuld knew they were on two separate pages. But she couldn't figure out how to synchronize the argument.

"Oh, then I was supposed to get on my knees and pray to Kami then! Ask him to get me out of there, right?!"

"That won't help..." Skuld mused, abandoning her anger as she considered this problem.

"Of course it won't!" By now, Mitsugi was red-faced. "Don't you get it yet girl? The gods have abandoned us. Even when we don't wish it, our very lives revolve around death. If we don't kill our opponents, we don't return home. But why should we care? We kill them, and we come back. The gods have left us to fend for ourselves, so we rely on ourselves. And by doing so, we become stronger. Strong enough that we don't need the gods. Not all of us will develop that strength. But do we leave them at the mercy of others? No! That makes us better than the gods; because we don't abandon our own on a whim."

Skuld was slightly disgusted by that speech. "You are wrong about one thing."

"Oh? Really?" Mitsugi took a threatening step forward.

"The gods have not abandoned you." Skuld coolly said, unaffected by his attempt to intimidate her. "They were never with you in the first place." She turned around and walked off.

Mitsugi watched her take three steps before he turned to the class. "Do any of you maggots wish to join her?" he sneered.

Some of the students looked hesitant, as if they were considering the offer to just walk away, but the rest of them had a satisfied look on their face, as if they realized they were doing the right thing.

"Sensei," Sakura quickly shouted, waving to catch their instructors attention before she pointed.

"SHIT! I didn't say YOU were dismissed." Their instructor angrily said, emphasizing 'you' in a disgusted tone of voice.

Naruto turned and gave his teacher the red-eye. "Biiih, you can't catch me!" he shouted before he pulled something from his jumpsuit and let it go. It seemed to float in the breeze as it slowly drifted to the ground.

Just as the instructor was about to grab the fleeing boy, a blast of air shot away from the low-grade concussive note, kicking up a cloud of dust and hiding the training area behind the academy from view. For a brief moment, no one could hear a thing.

When the dust had cleared and sound had returned, Naruto and Skuld had already disappeared.

Mitsugi angrily gnashed his teeth.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

He found her back in the apartment, tinkering with something.

"Skuld-chan! Let's get something to eat!"

"Huh? W-Wait!" Skuld cried out in a flustered voice before she was pulled out of her bedroom.

The front door shut once again before Skuld started screaming at Naruto to slow down.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld had an unimpressed look on her face. "Ichiraku...Ramen? Again?"

"It's a god-given food! How can you not love it?" Naruto shouted and the stand owner chuckled in response.

"You must be kidding." Skuld deadpanned.

"No I'm not!" Naruto angrily replied.

Skuld gave up. "...fine." She lifted a flap and took a seat at the counter.

"What would you like today?" Teuchi asked with a smile.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld boredly picked at her noodles before she looked around.

"Sluuurp. So, why did you leave anyway?" Naruto asked as he started on his 5th bowl.

Skuld froze. She suddenly stood up, placing money on the counter before she turned and left the ramen stand.

"Hey, wait! Skuld-chan!" Naruto called out, several noodles in his mouth messily flying out as he shouted with his mouth still full of food.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Darn it, he was still hungry.

With that discomforting thought in mind, he finished climbing the last set of stairs.

Their front door was wide open, but it looked like no one was inside. Naruto slowly entered their living room.

SLAM!

Scared out of his wits, Naruto whirled around to see his roommate. One of her eyebrows was ticking furiously.

"Ninjas," Skuld harshly laughed as she stepped away from the back of the door. "Why do you want to be a ninja?"

"B-Because..."

"Because?" Skuld asked.

Naruto proudly stood up, his terror fading away when he realized that Skuld wasn't going to hurt him. "Because I want to be Hokage! The best one ever!"

Skuld looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped and smiled weakly instead. He blabbed it over and over. It really was his dream she supposed. She shouldn't deter him.

"What's wrong Skuld-chan?"

But she had to protest a little. For her own sake. Now how should she word it?

"Doesn't it bother you?" she finally asked.

He didn't understand. "What does?"

"Naruto...you're going to have to kill someone eventually. It's the way of a ninja."

"Is it because you're a goddess?"

"?" It was Skuld's turn to be confused.

"I'm not stupid y'know." Naruto grunted. "Is it because you're a goddess, and you support life and everything."

"..." Skuld was silent for a moment. And then she suddenly started laughing.

"What?" Naruto demanded angrily.

"...It's not that simple." Skuld said as the laughter suddenly disappeared, to be replaced with an eerie calmness.

Her intent was so strong that Naruto's anger at being laughed at disappeared.

"Gods and goddesses have different domains. Depending on their domains depends on what they protect. I am the goddess of the future." Skuld explained.

"The goddess...of the future?"

"Don't interrupt." Skuld snapped. Seeing that Naruto was suitably cowed, she continued. "You must know that future events happen. And in order for them to happen, people will die. Sometimes, it will NOT be peaceful. I have to acknowledge that. What is important, however, is that the future is not set in stone."

Naruto looked a bit lost.

"I'm not here to protect life, I am here to protect choice...and I hate ninjas," She angrily said. "Because they don't have choices."

"Yeah we do!"

"What if you're given the mission to assassinate a high-ranking politician? One who has a wife and two children. One whose only wrong is that he can't be bribed. Do ninjas take that into account?"

"We can turn down the mission!" Naruto argued, remembering something from class.

"And someone else will take it."

"..." Naruto remained quiet for a long moment. "Why do you care?" he suddenly demanded.

"What?"

"You just said that you don't care whether someone lives or dies."

"What are you talking about? Yes I do."

"Then why are you giving me this crap about how you care only about choice?"

"Because! Because...because...well," she looked away before continuing in a quiet voice, "I don't want..."

Naruto strained to hear what she was saying, but he couldn't pick out the last few words. "What?"

Skuld seemed to catch herself. "No no, it's nothing."

"..." something occurred to Naruto. "Skuld-chan..."

Skuld waited for Naruto to continue.

"...you don't want to be a ninja, do you?" he finished.

"..." how was she going to answer this one.

"Answer me, I can take it," Naruto bravely said.

He probably couldn't, but at least he made it easy. "No." she replied.

"What?! Why?!" Naruto demanded, proving her predictions correct.

"Because I think that ninjas are the lowest things on earth."

"I can't believe you just said that!" Naruto cried in outrage.

"It's true."

"No it's not."

Skuld opened her mouth for a moment before she shut it and thought about what she was going to say. "Alright, fine. Name one good thing about ninjas."

"Have you ever seen such cool sword-wielding action from nonninjas?"

"Samurai. And they have honor too."

"Ninjas have honor!"

Skuld scoffed.

"They do!" Naruto insisted.

"Pirates have more honor than ninjas."

"What?! You lie!"

"Yeah? Pirates have the decency not to kill someone and call it mission complete."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled to come up with a witty retort. "Che, but they aren't as cool." he spat.

"They are."

"No they're not."

Skuld's eyes narrowed. "Fine."

"Eh? Skuld, where are you going?"

"I'm going to show you that anything is better than a ninja, even pirates."

"What?! No way! Ninjas are the best!"

"If you still won't admit it, then prepare to lose."

"Skuld-chan?"

Skuld paused.

"What's an earth anyway?" (2)

"Pwumpf!" Skuld slowly pushed herself off the ground and spat out a hair that had entered her mouth. "Are you stupid?!"

"Hey!"

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It took Skuld less than an hour to modify Banpei II-san's code.

"Arrr!" the robot shouted in a synthesized voice as it sat up. One of its eyes was red, while the other was the normal black on white.

"What the hell is this?"

Skuld winced at Naruto's bad language choice before she shrugged it off. "This, my dear roommate, is Banpei II-san in pirate mode. It's here to prove that pirates are better than ninjas. It will be your opponent."

"..."

"Unless you're scared," she taunted.

"No way!" Naruto loudly declared.

Skuld placed a wooden cutlass in front of the robot. "Then let's see you defeat this pirate."

-o-o-o-o-

Banpei slowly reached forward and picked up the sword before it swung the fake weapon around in a showy display of swordsmanship...and then it threw the cutlass at Naruto. The sword slid to a halt in front of Naruto.

Not knowing what to do, Naruto picked it up.

His opponent waited.

Naruto walked up to his opponent...

And then the robot sucker punched him in the shin, causing him to cry out and topple over. It felt like someone had just kicked him with a steel-toed boot!

Incidentally, as he was falling over, the sword fell with him and the blunt edge of the blade struck the robot's domed head.

It was the robot's turn to bonelessly hunch over.

Naruto was distracted from the pain by the sound of a hatch on the back of Skuld's robot forcefully shooting open. A small firework blasted into the air with a fwee.

- POOF -

"..." both silently watched as the bright red light quickly faded, leaving a burn mark on the ceiling.

Uhh...Skuld-chan?

The exiled goddess had a frantic expression on her face. "I-I, this isn't right!" She turned to the winner. "Naruto!" she barked.

Naruto hastily jumped to his feet and backed up a step.

Seeing that she had his attention, Skuld continued. "Once I finish the repairs. We are going to have a rematch."

"Okay..." Naruto timidly responded.

Skuld immediately set to work. There was a small explosion and a shriek of surprise.

"Argh!" Skuld cried angrily as she grabbed Banpei's body and ran into her room.

The door slammed shut. Soon the sound of heavy machinery filled the apartment.

Naruto was confused. "Does that mean I won?"

-o-o-o-o-

Naruto swung.

_Crack!_

His bokken struck the wooden dummy suspended above the dining table.

Leaping back, as if dodging an imaginary strike, he ducked quickly to avoid a second imaginary strike before lunging forward.

_Crack!_

The dummy flew back, uncontrollably.

Capitalizing on his advantage, Naruto jumped onto the table and swung.

_Crack!_

"Waaah!"

Several crashes were heard before there was a loud thud. Robot parts for Skuld's newest invention flew into the air.

Naruto had a pained wince on his face as he slowly sat up. He turned to stare at the table that now sported a pair of broken legs. Yup, it was broken.

Skuld's door flew open. "What was that?!" She shouted down the hall. Thankfully the kitchen was hidden away.

"Nothing!" Naruto immediately shouted. "I'll take care of it."

"But"

"It was a pigeon!" Naruto cried. It was very quiet, but he thought he heard an "Oh...okay." There was the sound of a door shutting. He didn't have to wait long to find out what was distracting Skuld.

"Come on already! Why are you admitting defeat when I haven't even raised a hand yet?!" Skuld's voice drifted through the air.

Not one to question his good fortune...much, Naruto quickly got to his feet. Leaving his bokken on the floor where it fell, he started shoving the broken table to the side. Splinters formed on the rug as the broken stumps dragged along the carpeted floor. With one final heave, he stepped back. Satisfied with his work, he wiped off his brow and went to the other side of the room to get something to eat.

Only...

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto shouted as he turned away from the open refrigerator.

"What?!"

"We're out of food!" He wisely chose not to say anything about the need for a new dining table.

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The two children were observed leaving their apartment. Once they were out of sight, the door to the apartment splintered inwards to mark the arrival of a group of nins and civilians.

Before they had a chance to carry out their plan, something walked in.

The entire group stared at the odd creature for a moment. Stared as it walked straight into a wall.

∗Clang∗

The robot's eyes turned red.

One of them anyway.

"Arr!" It picked up a metal robot leg that was lying on the ground.

"Prepare to walk the plank you scoundrels!" it shouted before it charged.

The civilian that it was headed for swung down with a rugbeater. The robot shook as it took the brutal blow to the head from the oversized eggbeater. Before it could respond, it found itself kicked into the air.

Plaster flew exploded outwards as it broke through the wall and ended up inside of the kitchen, incidentally landing next to the broken table.

The lone red eye died out as the robot deactivated. Its last view was of a wooden bokken, the same one that Naruto had been using half an hour earlier.

The intruders stared at the hole in the kitchen wall for a long time. When nothing came out...

"...toys," one of the nin commented in disgust.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld was in the middle of retrieving a carton of eggs when she suddenly stiffened up. A low growl started to emit from her throat.

Skuld-chan, stop!" Naruto whispered frantically, "you're going to crush them."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The group was almost done when one of their number decided to loot the kitchen.

The sound of a body crashing against a wall caught the attention of the others. The first thing that they saw was the giant poofy afro. The second was the metallic sheen of its skin. Recognition was near instant.

"It's that toy!" (3)

That toy slowly raised its head and looked around the room. It seemed to be glaring sternly at the thieves. "Your very presence has dishonored this home. I will not allow you to take that which is not yours," it said in a synthesized, yet dignified, voice. It gestured to a corner of the room. "You will place what you stole in that corner, or I will force you to relinquish your holdings."

A shuriken was the answer to its demands.

There was a ripping sound before a loud thud marked the end of the shuriken's journey.

The shuriken was embedded in the wall behind the robot. Some of the nins had to admire the grace of that move. It had dodged the thrown weapon with minimal movement and effort. It lost points, however, for taking damage to its cape.

"Is that really a toy?" someone whispered. There was no reply.

"Very well then." It calmly bent over in a Battoujutsu stance, the tip of the long wooden bokken touching the floor.

A hail of weapons and items soon followed.

∗Thunk∗ ∗thunk∗ ∗thud∗ ∗plud∗

With simple wide sweeps of the training weapon, their short opponent effortlessly deflected almost every incoming weapon. And what it couldn't deflect...

∗Thunk∗

...it dodged.

The intensity of the weapon storm slowly increased. Soon, the air was so thick with flying projectiles that shurikens and bottle caps were colliding in midair, gravity dragged them to the floor soon afterwards, preventing them from even reaching the target.

And then the storm of sharp things stopped.

The small metal figure stood within a clearly defined circle, a meter in radius. Except for the crazy creature and its weapon, there was nothing within that circle. One could almost say that it was dust-free. The perimeter of the circle, on the other hand, was heavily lined with sharp black metal objects.

It took a step forward, and, with a swing, the projectiles embedded in the long thin wood of its weapon were flung into a corner of the apartment. There was a crack as one particularly sharp shuriken stuck itself into a window pane, splitting the glass in two.

"I see that the demon-eyed swordsman wishes to challenge me. Let us resolve our first battle today." The odd creature calmly said.

It was addressing a man with a narrowed, almost evil look in his eyes. A headband bearing the insignia of Konoha was tied around his forearm. That same arm was held straight out, holding the others back. He was telling the others that he would handle this, and he stepped forward with a confident gait.

Instead of wondering about what his opponent had just said, the nin tensed.

Taking this as a sign that its opponent was ready, the diminutive samurai raised its sword. Electricity started to dance along the blade.

_Fire in the Hole!_

Before anyone could react, there was a big bang and the evil-eyed jounin was airborne. He crashed into, and right through, the wall that divided the kitchen and the living room...incidentally widening the hole that 'that toy' had unexpectedly created earlier. Several pipes were ripped right out of the wall from this act; they started to hiss loudly.

"Did you see that?!" One of the civilians cried out.

The remaining nins were gaping. "Impossible!" one of them wordlessly mouthed. The weapons master of the group had been utterly destroyed in a single strike.

Their opponent turned to those that were still standing and gestured toward the corner. Its message was clear, return the goods peacefully and no one would get hurt.

"Run!"

Mass panic occurred instead.

Before one of the civilians reached the window, he was sent flying toward the opposing wall. The force of his impact caused the stolen goods to fly from his hand and scatter upon the floor.

A pair of civilians had reached the front door by then. One of them quickly went for the lock while the other went for the doorknob. The plan was simple, once the door was unlocked, the door was to be ripped open and the two could escape. The plan failed before it began since one of them collapsed bonelessly to the floor the instant he touched the doorknob. The other immediately looked up. The first thing that he saw was the pair of nins lying next to a wall containing large dents.

He turned around just in time saw a long wooden stick flying toward him.

His world went black...

...and then color returned as the black-clad ANBU left his field of view. Turning, he watched as the elite nin soon stopped forcing the unknown opponent back and the two engaged in combat. Several loud raps filled the air as they lashed out each other over and over again.

Two more ANBU stood next to a broken window. It appeared that the crack made by a shuriken earlier had been widened to allow entry for all three.

The civilian wanted to cheer. Saved!

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hayate soon changed his stance. He had to end this.

_Dance of the Crescent Moon._

His fast sweeps covered such wide arcs that it seemed like he was swinging a crescent moon around.

The wooden bokken that had served the Samurobo so well finally split into two pieces under the onslaught and the robot was thrown away when right after. It skidded across the ground before crashing against the wall. It sat there, motionless.

Then, several false curly brown hairs fell to the ground...

"Truly despicable," it said in an angry tone of voice as it stood up, and then its full power was unleashed.

Dashing forward to pick up the other half of Naruto's training weapon, the robot pushed forward. And soon the nins present realized that their opponent wasn't inhibited in the least by the shortened weapons. In fact, it could wield the new weapons with far greater efficiency as it could swing the halved blades twice as fast and three times as accurately. It was also too fast and too small. Before they could hit it, it was already within their guard.

Spit flew out of a chuunin's mouth as the hilt of the wooden blade buried itself deep into his gut. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

The situation was going from bad to worse.

The leader furiously racked his brain for a solution as Hayate desperately tried to hold it back. The ANBU weapons master was losing ground fast.

Movement from the corner caught the ANBU leader's attention. It looked like the civilians had stopped paying attention to the fight. The leader felt a twinge of disgust at the stupidity of the civilians. Greedy fools.

"Dammit, if this keeps up, I won't have anything left to hold these." One of them angrily said to the other.

A ripped bag that could barely hold anything? The leader paused and examined the situation more closely. He soon realized just what their opponent was after.

"Drop them," the leader ordered.

"W-what?" one of the two asked in surprise.

_Crack crack crack._ The robot broke right through Hayate's guard. It seemed to be glowing.

_Shining Silver StarBurst Attack!_

The instant the newly turned blade struck the ANBU's sword, a brilliant white light filled the room. When it cleared, Hayate's sword was falling to the ground and there was a new hole in the wall.

Chaos reined once again. This creature wasn't human! The civilians were about to make another panicked dash for the door. Until the ANBU leader gestured. Then they immediately tightened their grips and shook their heads no.

"Destroy the bags," the leader then ordered, forgoing the hand signs to order all of the nin to obey his orders, or else...

"No!" Several of the civilians screamed.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Banpei II-san skidded to a halt in front of the civilians. Its sword started to glow a deep arctic blue as it prepared to use its supermove...that one move that could probably split the earth in two if it missed. And it wasn't about to hold back, because it really didn't care about spacing the human population. After all, robots don't need to breathe. _"Tama...Hama..."_

-o-o-o-o-o-

There were several loud ripping sounds...

And then the robot seemed to freeze in midswing while everything spilled to the floor.

Silence descended in the apartment, the nins waited with baited breath. Waited for their opponent to move one inch.

Seeing that their opponent had stopped moving, one of the nins quickly stopped feigning dead and pulled out a shuriken. Thrown from an experienced hand, it shot forward with incredible speed and accuracy.

There was a thunk as the projectile was dodged, a civilian was barely pulled out of the way in time.

Meanwhile, the civilians were upset. "How could you?!" the civilians demanded. It wasn't their opponent that had destroyed the loot sacks, but their fellow nins. Angry at the amount of danger they weren't supposed to be facing if the nin had been more competent, and fearful of the possibility of going back empty-handed, they reached down to pick up some of the items and pocket them.

The nins saw their unknown opponent move.

"Stop it!"  
"∗∗∗∗"

There was a slicing sound, and several trousers fell to the floor, leaving the civilians to display their underwear in full, disgusting, glory.

The leader had to admire their opponent's skill. These were all experienced nins, and not one had managed to halt its charge. In addition, it had used a blunt wooden rod to slice cloth. Air affinity? His estimate of the opponent's threat level went up several notches. A plan was crucial if they wanted to assassinate this creature and walk out alive.

But first...

"Pull the civilians out. Make sure they do not take anything. We will create a plan of attack afterwards," the leader signed as he calmly lowered his sword, but keeping it poised and ready in case their opponent attacked again. The remaining ANBU immediately relayed the orders to the other nin.

The civilians resisted when the nins stopped them from taking anything as they were escorted out. "You ∗∗∗∗ lover! We'll get you for this!" one of the civilians shouted angrily as he was forcibly dragged toward the window.

-o-o-o-o-

Two children paused at the foot of the apartment.

"Something is happening up there! Let me see what's going on." Skuld quickly said as she pulled a small box from her pocket. Opening the lid, she uncovered a small TV hidden inside.

The fast pattering of feet made her look up from the display. She watched as Naruto inserted the key and pulled the heavy iron apartment door open. He ran in.

"Wait! Naruto!" Skuld shouted as she ran up and held the door open before sticking her head into the doorway and shouting up to him.

When he didn't stop, she opened the iron door further before dashing in after him.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld was the first one to notice.

"Stop!"

His loud footsteps continued echoing down the stairwell.

"STOP Naruto!" she screamed loudly.

The sound of footsteps above her slowed to a halt. "Why?!" Naruto shouted back down the stairwell. He came clomping downstairs.

"Smell the air! There's something in the air and I can't put my finger to it."

Naruto appeared right before her at that moment, and he stopped to take a sniff. "...it's gas..."

Sounds of fighting reached their ears and both of their eyes widened as they reached the same conclusion. "We have to get out of here!" They both shouted at each other before they turned around and started jumping down the stairs as they dashed for the exit.

Those two were not the only ones to realize that a volatile substance was rapidly filling the apartment building.

The robot remained motionless. By this time, all of the unconscious nin had been awakened, and they were working out a way to assassinate this opponent, trying to figure out how to get around its seemingly perfect defense.

One of them noticed a strange odor in the air and immediately let the others know. The ANBU leader immediately signed to the others, 'Change in plans.'

The others grinned and dashed for the window. The leader was the last one to leave. He saw something shoot out from their opponent's chest before he jumped out.

Just as the ANBU leader completed the last seal, sounds of a funeral dirge played on a harmonica slowly drifted out of the window of the apartment.

_Katon: Karyuu Endan!_

The stream of fire shot out and upwards...right when the very edge of the flame seemed to touch the window frame.

Glass flew outwards from the remaining windows as the explosion soundlessly ripped through the upper floor. Sound soon returned...

**BOOOM! **

Down on the ground, Skuld and Naruto were just leaving the building when flaming debris started falling everywhere. Less than a second later, the ground that they were standing upon started shaking violently as the explosions left the upper floor of the apartment and traveled downwards at a furious pace.

The two quickly ran behind the ruined wall of the neighboring apartment before ducking down and covering their head.

The shaking soon stopped, but before Naruto could get up and look, he was forcefully yanked back down.

"Wait!" Skuld hissed.

The apartment exploded an instant later, sending brick, mortar, wood, and metal flying everywhere.

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The Third sighed.

One destroyed apartment. Several essential and capable nin who could be removed from duty if he sided with the children. And to top it off, one superweapon that could hold off several elite nins was present within the borders of Konoha and the council had requested that he discover what it was, and seize control of it.

How was he going to handle this?

"Wait! You need an appointment before you can see the Hokage."

The Third sighed wearily. Looks like there was no putting it off.

"Hokage-sama," Skuld said in a professional tone of voice as she pulled the sliding door open and entered the Hokage's office.

"Skuld..." the Third said as he calmly blew a smoke ring. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He absently noted Naruto quietly entering the room.

"I believe you should know already"

"Please enlighten me."

"Your nins, they broke into our apartment, trashed it, tried to steal from it, and blew it up. I demand justice."

The Third slowly grinned as a possibility arose that might solve all of his troubles.

"And you will receive it. As soon as you release the details about your inventions. I am especially interested in the one that held off several of my best nins."

"Sure!" Naruto eagerly spoke up. "Ban-mmf!"

Before the surprised Hokage could ask Skuld why she was covering Naruto's mouth, she was facing the elderly leader with an unamused look...

"...that's blackmail."

"I prefer to think of it as a mutual exchange of interests. With this knowledge, I can improve the security of this village."

Skuld shook her head. "It won't work."

"May I ask why?"

"Because it should not have been able to do that in the first place."

"The evidence suggests otherwise."

"It appears so." Skuld agreed reluctantly, "but it was not my doing." She turned to Naruto. "Ask Naruto to see if he knows why this happened."

The Hokage turned to Naruto, but the lost expression on the Yondaime's legacy spoke volumes. He turned back to Skuld.

"Perhaps you can..."

"No, and I don't want to," Skuld immediately said.

"I'm afraid that I cannot accept that answer."

"Hokage-sama, I want justice."

"But to get justice, you need to pay for it. This is a small request, I am merely asking for details about this weapon."

Skuld bristled. "It is NOT a weapon."

"Needless, it held off several of my finest. You can see why I am so interested."

"Skuld-chan," Naruto prodded.

Skuld turned to him for a moment before a small growl left her throat. "Let me see if I understand. You will punish your nins only if I submit my plans and a method to mass produce an invention that held off several of your nins. You swear that you will use them to enhance the security of this village."

"Yes, that is correct. It requires very little sacrifice on your part, and we will be better able to defend the village from outside threats."

"Fine..." Skuld said in a dull voice.

Naruto grinned. But before the Hokage could smile, Skuld continued. "...Don't punish your own nins. You were not going to give them more than a slap on a wrist anyway." She slammed both hands onto the Hokage's desk. "Where are we going to live now?" she demanded.

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"Why didn't you want to help the old man?" Naruto demanded as he ripped his hand from Skuld's grip. Skuld had ran out of the office the instant she had extracted a temporary apartment from the Hokage. She was now on her way to salvage what she could from the remains of their apartment.

Skuld continued to walk at a brisk pace, and Naruto seemed to have trouble keeping up with her.

"Why?" he kept asking, but she continued to walk without saying a word.

Most of the trip was spent that way.

"...I will never allow a soulless contraption to take lives," Skuld finally said as they neared what was left of their apartment.

"Soulless? Aren't all machines soulless?"

"No. Because I built Banpei II-san with all of my heart, it has a soul. If they were to be mass produced, they would never trust the humans that use them." She paused and surveyed the ruins of their apartment. It was a good thing most of her inventions had been low-grade. They could be quickly rebuilt, and there was little chance that the looted items could be used for destructive purposes. Still...

"I don't believe this..." Skuld angrily said. "They're going to get away with this..." she muttered angrily as she dug her way through the remains of the apartment.

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto called out.

Skuld picked her way over, only to hurry up when she spotted what Naruto had found. "Banpei II-san!" she finally cried as she picked up what remained of the diminutive robot.

She had no idea why there was a burnt cape attached to its shoulders, nor why there was a burnt mass of curly hairs lying nearby.

But she was very mad now.

When they reached their new apartment with whatever they could salvage, Skuld wasted little time in building an intrusion detection system. Correction, intrusion protection system.

"The hydraulics are properly configured. The pressure is normal. Steel panels are solid and flawless..." Skuld muttered as she continued examining her newest invention. She reached out and tugged on a rope suspended in midair. It held firm.

"It's perfect!" Skuld gloated happily as she nudged a hatch shut with a foot. It shut with a clang.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Sky-blue eyes slowly opened.

"Naruto! You're awake!" Skuld cried happily. Her normally tame hair was a mess and her eyes were red. She looked horrible.

"Skuld-chan, you look horrible," Naruto tiredly blurted out.

She started to cry.

That woke Naruto up. "Hey hey, stop crying! I didn't mean what I just said," he babbled quickly as he tried to placate her. He paused for a moment before adding, "what did I just say anyway?"

Skuld didn't answer, she continued to cry.

His hand slowly reached forward. The instant it touched her shoulder, Naruto was surprised when she reacted by flinging her arms around him.

Naruto sat there with a shocked look on his face as Skuld-chan continued to hug him. He very slowly started to pat her on the back. It didn't seem to work, but Skuld-chan seemed to be calming down on her own. When the tears finally stopped, Naruto stopped trying to comfort his friend to look around. "So how come I'm in a hospital?" he conversationally began.

Skuld hiccupped once before she pushed herself away and stared into his eyes. "What-What do you re-remember?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "I remember...you going out for the day. You had set your security system. And then, half an hour later, there was an explosion." He started laughing. "Another gas leak. They really don't make apartments like they used to, huh? He cheerfully asked.

"About that..." Skuld said, her voice growing lower with each word.

Naruto had strained his ears, but he couldn't hear her explanation. "Huh? Could you repeat that Skuld-chan?"

"I said!" Skuld started with a raised voice before it suddenly dropped in volume. "it wasn't the gas main. It was...my security system. The intruders attacked from the outside, the one place that I hadn't expected. Their actions caused a fault in the security system that cascaded to the subsystems. When the regulating processor failed, the stored fuel went critical."

"Oh."

"You're taking this better than I though-" Skuld began with a false cheery mood.

"Is this what your technology can do?!" Naruto shouted bitterly. "I thought it wasn't supposed to destroy things!"

"Naruto!" Skuld shouted in outrage.

"And then what happens? It blows up and throws me in the hospital."

Naruto... Skuld repeated, with far less force behind her voice.

"I wasn't even doing anything!"

Please...

"I can't believe it! This sucks! You and your stupid technology!"

"keep it down. Keep it down!" Panic was growing on the ex-goddess' face. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!" she finally shrieked as she crouched down and covered her ears.

"What's with all of the noise in here?!" a passing nurse angrily demanded as she entered the room.

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With a wave of his hand, the Hokage dismissed all of the nearby bystanders. Naturally, there were protests, however a neutral stare was all it took to clear the room.

Skuld slowly stepped into the office and took a seat on the somewhat comfortable chair before turning to face the looming desk of the Third. She looked up to see his unhappy face.

"You are charged with harboring illegal explosives within your home," the Hokage gravely said as he shuffled some papers.

"They weren't explosives," Skuld calmly said. "It was a chain reaction that began from an exploit in a security system and culminated in a failure of the gas and electrical lines."

The Third calmly shuffled some papers. "I have 7 nins and 3 civilians in the hospital with varying conditions ranging from mild to critical. Give me one reason why I should not see this as an active attempt at sabotage." It was as if he hadn't heard a word that she had said.

Skuld could feel a headache forming._ Why couldn't he see?!_ "They were breaking into our home. Isn't that enough?"

"Do you have proof of this accusation?"

"No." she answered truthfully.

"Then I'm afraid that I cannot accept that as a reason. Now I ask you, what reason do you have for planting a bomb within your home?"

"You're accusing me of laying a trap, aren't you?" Skuld asked. She was starting to understand what was going on here.

The Hokage just frowned. "According to the reports, those nin were patrolling the neighborhood when there was a disturbance from your home. They went to investigate and ended up hanging onto their lives afterwards."

Skuld cut him off. "In other words, yes?"

"Yes," the Third nodded.

"I-did-not-lay-a-trap." Skuld repeated, enunciating each syllable for the Hokage to hear.

"But you do not have proof that supports this claim."

She had had enough. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry?" the Third asked in a confused voice.

"This isn't about the explosion, is it? You want something. What is it?" she demanded.

"I'm not sure I understand what you are saying." he replied in a civil manner.

Skuld stood up. "If you wish to continue wasting my time..."

"Sit down Skuld-san." The Third ordered.

Skuld returned to her seat. "What do you want." She repeated.

"...surrender the blueprints to your inventions. We shall assess whether you are telling the truth or not.

"No."

"So you admit to planting explosives within your home?" He suddenly glared at the girl as she prepared to stand again. "Sit down. This is related to the matter on hand. Now answer the question."

"I did not."

"I don't believe you."

Skuld was about to say that she couldn't lie before she remembered who she was dealing with. Nins took every advantage offered them, and this would be one of them. She altered her words. "Then don't."

The Hokage sighed. One long sigh, as if he was about to bid farewell to an old friend. "I don't want to do this, but you leave me with no choice. Do you understand what will happen if I believe that you are guilty of sabotage?"

So that was why he was accusing her of bombing the apartment. "Enlighten me." Skuld casually said, as easily as one remarked about the weather that day.

"You will be put to death."

"I see." Skuld said with a thoughtful expression, "it was not an explosive." she finally said.

The Third tried one last time. "Surrender your plans and we will see for ourselves."

"No."

The Hokage pulled a form in from the corner of his desk. "You leave me no choice. Once I sign this, you will be declared an enemy of the state." He held a wooden stamp embossed with his personal seal directly over the inkpad.

"Do it." Skuld was growing tired of the Hokage treating this conversation as one between friends. He was giving her numerous opportunities to save herself. But she didn't care if he didn't want her to die. She was not going to change her stance.

"I'm sorry?"

"Sign it." Skuld repeated in a calm clear way.

"What about Naruto?"

"What about him?"

The Third frowned. "You will be leaving him behind."

"He can take care of himself. I don't need to be here." Skuld said in an unconcerned manner.

"It appears that you are not afraid to die."

"..." Skuld was silent because, in truth, she was somewhat afraid of dying. The fear was very small though; it wasn't enough to cause more than a slight chill down the back of her spine.

The Third noticed that there was no change in Skuld's calm expression. "May I ask why?" He asked curiously, expecting a lie.

"Because I believe in an afterlife."

The room remained silent for one long moment.

"An afterlife?" The Hokage asked with a hint of mirth in his voice.

Skuld just stared coolly at him.

"Very well," the Hokage finally said as he pressed his personal stamp down onto the inkpad. "I cannot say your reasoning is sound. But that does not excuse your actions."

He pressed the stamp firmly upon the form before lifting it up and setting the form aside. "I will decide the date of your trial later. You have until then to prove your innocence." He said before he pulled open a drawer and withdrew another form. He stamped that one as well and handed it to Skuld "This is a temporary apartment. I ask that you don't destroy it, as its becoming increasingly difficult to find a willing manager who will not mind if his apartment is destroyed. Dismissed."

Skuld calmly stood up and left the room.

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Skuld happily ripped the lid off of the carton before she pulled a large spoon out and scooped out a large portion.

Without even hesitating, she practically swallowed the spoon.

It was sweet!

Plunging the spoon back into the carton, she had the second scoop up and at her mouth in less than a second. Eagerly opening her mouth wide, she was about to bite down when her eyes widened and she froze in place.

She slowly lowered the spoon and looked into the carton. Not finding anything out of place, she let out a defeated sigh and replaced the lid.

The ice cream had been good, but the experience had been soured by a bitter aftertaste.

It didn't make sense. Everything should have been fine! Naruto was back from the hospital. Healthy. No one had tried to invade their apartment lately. And she had managed to reconstruct several key components using the leftover debris from their previous apartments.

So why?!

-o-o-o-o-o-

The sound of metal components clinking together entered Naruto's ears as he opened his bedroom door and walked out into the living room.

Skuld stopped trying to reassemble Banpei II-san's arm to look up.

"Naruto..." she quickly said as she stood up and moved to block his way.

Naruto stopped. He couldn't go any further without forcing his way through. "Are you going to class?" he coldly asked without raising his head to look at her.

Skuld shook her head.

Naruto tried to push past her, but Skuld wouldn't budge. Naruto finally stopped, but he continued to stare angrily at the ground.

"Naruto, technology isn't bad. How can I prove it to you?" she pleaded.

"Help the Hokage."

Skuld fell back with a shocked look on her face, feeling as if she had just been slapped. She should have expected him to say that. Quickly recovering from her surprise, she calmly and coldly replied, "No."

The two glared harshly at each other, neither of them budged an inch.

"I'm late for class." Naruto pushed past her.

Skuld let him pass without a word. Once he was gone, she made her way back to the center of the room.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Skuld paused. What was she doing?

_Piecing together a frame for one of her inventions_, her mind immediately answered.

"What invention?" She wondered as she sat back and played with the wrench.

_The apartment is leaning to one side._ Her mind replied. _We need something to stabilize it now or else it will collapse on us in a week._

It was such an obvious answer, it almost seemed like she hadn't needed to ask the question. But she had to. Because she had just realized...aside from Banpei II-san, she didn't have any special inventions. No, they were special. But they weren't...they...weren't...she couldn't find the right word.

But she knew what was wrong with them. Nearly everything she had created so far has been useful. She looked around...none of them were fun.

"What am I doing?!" She asked herself again.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto shouted as he ran into the apartment and threw his stuff onto the couch. There was no answering reply, so he made his way to the front of Skuld's room.

"Skuld-chan!" Naruto shouted again as he grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door. Still no reply.

The door refused to open. Locked?

"Skuld-chan!" He called again before putting his ear against the door. It sounded like there was someone on the other side. Bending down, he stared at the doorknob with a critical eye.

He soon stood up. Skuld hadn't replaced this lock yet. He turned around and walked away.

He came out of his room moments later with a thin metal piece. With it, he quickly picked the lock. Turning the doorknob, he pushed the door open.

Skuld was pulling something toward the center of her room when she paused and looked up.

Skuld-chan!

"What do you want?" She irritably asked as she released her hold on the large metal sheet.

Naruto was taken aback by her anger. Had he done something wrong?

"Well?" she demanded impatiently.

"Skuld-chan..."

"Don't call me that," she coldly said.

"But you asked me today what you could do. And I came up with something."

Skuld paused for a moment before her eyes narrowed. "I'm not helping."

"No no, it's not that!"

"...Fine." she calmly said as she sat down on the musty old bed and folded her legs. "Talk."

"I saw a fly today! It reminded me of you."

"..." Skuld narrowed her eyes. She was not impressed with the comparison.

"See, it all began when..." He was going into one of his long-winded exaggerated stories again. She picked up a small object from nearby and began to absentmindedly twirl it. As she played with the trinket, she started to plan out her future projects. She had to replace what she had lost recently in the least amount of time.

"...and then the water-carrying man finally reached the top of the hill. Before he could rest though..."

It looked like his story was finally coming to an end...

"So...Skuld-chan. Is there something that you could make that could carry people?"

"..."

"Yes." she said while staring at the small trinket in her hands.

"Really?!"

"Yes." she whispered, an enthusiastic smile forming on her face. Her great mind started to form and discard plans. It had to be compact, trendy, and fast. Something fun to make! But what could it run on? She couldn't decide on the motor design without knowing how it would be fueled.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto stood in front of Skuld's room.

"It's my idea, I want to help." he protested, trying to push his way in.

Skuld scoffed and rebuffed his attempt. "You?!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I can."

"Yeah, right." She shoved him away and shut the door.

Naruto ran up to the door and banged on it several times. "C'mon Skuld-chan!"

Naruto pulled out the metal piece and tried to pick the lock. There was a click that indicated that he was successful, but the door refused to budge. He pressed his ear to the door. It sounded like Skuld was moving heavy objects around.

She was blocking the door! With that realization, he angrily kicked the barrier that was keeping him out of Skuld's room.

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Three shadows stood outside of the run-down apartment. It looked like it was going to collapse at any minute.

"What are you doing?" a shadowy voice asked his partner.

"What does it look like?" The other shadow asked as he continued toward the temporary domicile of their target.

"Stay right here. We will wait until she leaves the apartment."

"But..."

The third shadow finally stepped forward.

"Shut it you two." he coldly said before he turned to the impatient member of their team. "Hakabe, I've told you this already. Remember it this time. Our target has been living here for at least a week. It took her less time than that to sabotage the previous apartment."

"So what?"

"The point is that her preparations nearly destroyed two teams of elite nin. If we entered, there is a good chance that we will die. The plan, therefore, is to wait outside and seize the target as she leaves. This way, if one of us sets off a trap, we will have room to escape."

"Oh."

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BOOM

"YAggh!"

Skuld immediately awoke and sat up in her bed. Waving her hand in the air to clear some space for her to breathe. She slowly turned to where a small pen light was shining in the middle of her room.

Her roommate was in her room, she realized as she lightly clapped her hands and the room lights came on. Only...

...he wasn't there.

"Naruto?" Skuld tentatively called out.

Nervous laughter filled the air. It seemed to be coming from a spot in the center of the room. What was going on?

"Fancy meeting you here of all places, Skuld-chan." the voice seemed to be coming from next to the chassis of the bike.

There was a pause. And then...

"Hey! Where's my hand? How come I can't see my other hand?! Agh! I can't see my body! What's going on Skuld-chan?!"

There was no mistaking it, he was in here.

"How should I know?!"

"You're the genius!"

Skuld preened a little. "That's true."

"Help me!" Naruto cried.

"Okay okay. How did this happen?"

"That's what I'm asking you!"

"I'm asking you what you did before this happened." Skuld clarified.

"I don't know!"

A stormcloud appeared above her head. "Keep quiet then. I'm trying to think."

Silence descended on the room.

As Skuld stared at the spot where Naruto should have been, she started to notice a shadow on the ground that seemed to shift around from time to time.

"...Naruto, get over here." She thumped the spot on the bed next to her twice with a hand.

The shadow slowly started to creep over.

Right before it reached the bed, Skuld quickly raised her hand and held it out in front of her.

- Smack -

Even though she couldn't see it, Skuld immediately knew that Naruto's face had run into her hand. There was a sputtering sound from Naruto, and soon Skuld found her hand grabbed and forcefully tossed aside.

"What did you do that for?!" Naruto angrily demanded.

"Just checking something." Skuld replied in a serious tone of voice. So he was there, just invisible. Her mind rapidly thought of and discarded several possibilities. In the end, she couldn't think of how this happened. Of the small list, nearly all of them were dangerous without any sort of preparation. Maybe this was a magical invisibility. If that were the case, then he wasn't in any danger.

"Skuld-chan..."

There was no need to wonder about how it happened then. "You're fine. We just have to wait for it to wear off," she commented as she sat back.

"How long will it take?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?!"

"How am I supposed to figure it out if you don't even know how it happened in the first place?"

Naruto scoffed. "Che, some genius you are."

Skuld sat up. "Excuse me?"

"Probably don't even know how to make things invisible."

Now she was outraged. "I do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

Skuld reached forward and grabbed his invisible pajamas. "You, Mister, are going to remember everything that happened before you turned invisible. I'm going to figure out how you did it and prove you wrong." she snarled.

"..."

"Talk!" she roared.

"First I came downstairs for breakfast..."

"Too far!"

"I went to the academ-Eee?"

"Start from when you entered my room." Skuld said sweetly to his face before she held him at arm's length again.

"Uhh, well...I...snuck into your room..."

"I can see that..." Skuld deadpanned before she added, "...somewhat."

"And then ... needed a flash- ... and ..." Naruto obviously had something important to say as his voice dropped to a low whisper during several key parts.

Skuld seemed to hear him just fine since she threw the invisible boy onto her bed. "What was that? Did you just say you searched under my blanket?"

"Don't kill me!" Naruto gasped out.

Skuld quickly eased on the pressure and Naruto sucked in a huge mouthful of air. "Continue..." she calmly said after taking several deep breaths before she added, "why were you in my room in the first place?"

"I wanted to help."

"What?"

"I wanted to help," Naruto repeated.

"On the motorcycle?"

"Is that what it is?"

"Yes."

"Then I wanted to help on the motorcycle."

Skuld sighed. "Naruto, there's a reason why I won't let you help."

"It's dangerous."

"Yes. You could be hurt."

"I don't care, I want to help."

"You can help by not helping."

"That's stupid."

A vein appeared on her forehead. "Don't you understand how dangerous this is?"

"Yes."

"No you don't, otherwise you'd know that one of the bike parts is made of a metal that absolutely cannot touch iron. If it were to touch my bench, there'd be an explosion. It's basic chemistry."

"Couldn't you have told me that earlier?!" Naruto griped.

"Wait, what?" Skuld asked in confusion before her eyes flickered to the overturned workbench. It had a large gouge within it, demonstrating that her initial conclusion had been wrong. "H-how are you still up and talking?!"

"Hee." Naruto laughed nervously. Skuld could imagine him sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he laughed. "People say that I have a hard head."

"What you did was dangerous!" Skuld scolded.

The good cheer left Naruto's voice as he sat up. "I'm fine, aren't I?"

"I've seen you take large injuries and say that you were fine. And you weren't."

"But I really am OK! Can't you see!" Naruto shifted on the bed.

"No," was Skuld's blunt reply.

There was a slight pause in the air before the bed settled a little. "Oh. Oh yeah. Haha, forgot."

"You." She jabbed a finger against where his chest should be. "Are not helping." she declared.

"Then I'm going to keep coming into your room every night when you sleep."

"I won't let you."

"You'll be sleeping!" Naruto sing-songed as if he was pointing out the obvious. "And since you won't be awake to watch, I might really hurt myself next time."

The resolution in his tone was evident. Normally she wouldn't care about his claim. The problem was that most of her security equipment had been destroyed when their previous apartments blew up. Right now, all she had was rope. For a brief moment, Skuld weighed the possibility of tying him up every night before she went to bed.

It was too much trouble. And nins were good at escaping bonds anyway (1).

She gave in. "Fine, you can help. But..."

"Yes!" he cheered.

"I wasn't finished yet."

"But..." Naruto started to protest.

"I want your promise first." Skuld interrupted.

"What promise?"

"...Do you promise to listen to everything that I say? If you don't follow orders, you will never help again. Understand?"

"Yep. Okay. What do we do now?" Naruto eagerly asked.

"Go to bed."

"What, but..."

"I'm tired! I want to sleep. We'll work on it tomorrow."

"...okay."

There was the sound of footsteps heading for the door. A few junk piles made crunching noises as they were stepped on. And then, finally, the door shut.

Skuld laid down and closed her eyes.

After a moment of silence, Skuld opened her mouth to say something. "Naruto, you're still in my room, aren't you?"

"No!"

Skuld tiredly sighed. "What do you want?"

"Do you know why I'm invisible?"

"It's because you touched a core of the fuel cell to my workbench; which has a significant percentage of iron in its structure. Not only do you get an explosion, it also makes you invisible. Don't worry. If you survive the explosion, the rest is harmless." she paused. "In case you're wondering, it's not true invisibility; others can still see your shadow."

"Oh."

"Do you have any other questions?" Skuld demanded. When there was no immediate reply, she laid back down. "If you want to get rid of the invisibility, take a shower. Water will neutralize the invisibility."

"But the water is brown."

"It's rust." Skuld said before she covered her head with her blanket. She suddenly sat up. "When was the last time you took a shower?" she asked, a disgusted look appearing on her face.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto picked up an odd silvery marble with a multicolored sheen on its surface. As he examined it curiously, Skuld entered the room.

He quickly stuffed the marble into his pocket before getting up. He stood too quickly however, and was soon off-balance. He fell backwards.

"Ow!" Naruto cried as his hand scraped against a sharp surface.

Skuld was in front of him in an instant. "Leave."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked in a hurt voice.

"There is iron in your blood. What do you think will happen if you bleed on those cores over there?" she asked as she pointed at a stack of marbles. All of them were silvery and had a multicolored sheen on their surface.

"Uhh..."

"Don't you remember what happened last night?" Skuld demanded impatiently.

"Wait, those are what caused me to become invisible?" Naruto asked.

"One of them, yes. Now go." She shoved him out of the door.

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"Need more ice cream," Skuld reminded herself as she pushed open the heavy iron door of the apartment. She hadn't walked far when she found her way blocked.

"Skuld."

Skuld paused and looked up at the two men that towered over her.

"You will come with us."

"..." After appraising them for a moment, she turned and prepared to walk away.

They immediately struck her from behind and she collapsed.

Naruto's head disappeared from the window.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The rock flew straight and true, striking its target on the rim and disrupting its precarious balance. The large bucket fell over and a pedestrian suddenly screamed as she found herself covered in a smelly goop.

Instead of staying to laugh, Naruto continued running.

He himself hadn't gotten far from the apartment when someone had attacked him as well. His assailant had been overconfident however, and Naruto succeeded in kicking the guy in the nuts when he was cornered.

It hadn't been the best of ideas, especially since the attacker had been angrily chasing him for the past five minutes.

He ducked into an alley and picked up a rock.

"Gotcha!"

"Lemme go, dammit!" Naruto shouted as someone hauled him into the air by the back of his jumpsuit.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto let out a grunt as he landed on the hard wooden floor.

"Why are you causing trouble at this time of day, Naruto?" The Third wearily asked, nodding thankfully to the one that Naruto had brought in. The nin left, leaving the two alone in the office.

"Old man! I just saw Skuld get taken away."

"Taken...away?"

"Yeah, they stopped her. And then when she turned around, they struck her on the neck and she fell over. They dragged her away."

The Third stiffened. "They what?"

"Why are you so shocked?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Stay right here, Naruto." The Hokage ordered, an angry frown appearing on his face.

Naruto stayed in his spot for all of a moment before he ran up to the Hokage's desk. He paused for a moment. -click-

Lethal trap disabled, he started to rifle through the drawers for something sharp or pointy. There was no way he was letting the Hokage go alone.

-o-o-o-o-o-

**∗ BOOM! ∗**

∗cough couch∗ "Ow..." he whispered as the remains of a limited-edition ultra perverted icha icha book slipped through limp fingers. He collapsed bonelessly to the floor. "No more...porn."

Someone burst into the room.

You brat, just because the Hokage isn't... his anger died down when he realized he seemed to be talking to an empty room. Something about the room didn't seem right...

Dismissing it as his imagination, he turned around and left.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The torture and interrogation building was a dark and dreadful place. The Third had never liked visiting here, however he could not argue with the results.

He quickly looked behind him, but he didn't see anyone. Strange, it felt like someone was following him.

He opened the door to the unassuming building. The awful smell of disinfectant washed over him as he stepped past the threshold.

"Hokage-sama! We had not expected to see you until later." The aide said as he stood up.

"Where is Skuld?"

"Her interrogation is still in progress. I would advise waiting until they are finished before entering the room."

"Are you delaying me?" The Hokage asked, a note of warning in his voice.

"N-no sir. Right this way."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The Third signaled for the aide to leave. The young man gladly hurried off. He slowly pushed the door open and entered the soundproofed room.

"..." The Hokage was surprised.

"Ibiki?"

The commanding officer of the Konoha ANBU Torture and Interrogation Force turned around and bowed. "Hokage-sama." he greeted as he stepped aside.

There was a gasp. The two immediately turned to stare at a part of the wall. They quickly formed the cancel seal.

"Kai!"

Nothing happened. They waited for something to happen. But still, nothing happened.

It must have been their imagination. They returned their attention to the girl in the center of the room.

Skuld was lying on a small chair in the center of the room. She was unconscious, and a growing bruise could be seen on her neck. However, she seemed to be healthy. The Third glanced questioningly at his subordinate. He wanted answers.

"I have already had the ones that brought her in arrested. I have also pulled rank to supercede those that were originally slated to interrogate her." Ibiki reported, his eyes flickering to one side. "This should not have happened, and I take full responsibility for this incident."

The Third stared at the two unconscious interrogators that were lying on the ground. A hand-driven drill was lying on the floor right next to the two.

"What is Skuld-san's condition."

"She is currently unconscious, however I believe that it isn't life threatening. Those two were preparing to revive her when I had entered the room."

The Hokage nodded. "I see. I will take her to the hospital to verify your assessment. Thank you Ibiki." He stooped down and carefully picked up the girl. For an old man, he did it in a graceful manner that belied his age.

The Third paused at the door. "Ibiki?"

"Hokage-sama?"

"Interrogate those two. This level of coordination is too much to be a coincidence. While I gave the order, I did not want things to be taken this far. I want to know who was the mastermind and anyone else that was involved. You may use Skuld's captors as well if these two do not provide enough information."

A small smile appeared on the stern special Jounin's face. "Understood sir."

The room was soon empty.

There was a gasp as a shadow detached itself from the wall and sucked in a deep breath. It quickly made its way after the Third.

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Skuld wasn't in the hospital for long. When she awoke, she was discharged. Naruto was waiting for her inside of their temporary apartment.

"Skuld-chan! Have a cookie." Naruto cheerfully said as he held up a plate of cookies. "The old man let me have them."

"..." Skuld stared at the plate for a moment before she ignored it and sat down at the kitchen table. Silence descended upon the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Skuld finally asked, breaking the silence.

Naruto looked up at her and grinned, but the grin didn't quite reach his eyes. "You know. Ninjas aren't what I thought they were like."

Skuld just grunted.

Naruto suddenly started laughing.

At Skuld's bewildered expression, Naruto explained the best he could. You sounded so much like Sasuke-bastard. And yet you're so much cooler than he is.

Naruto's laughter died down. "But you know what? I don't want to be a ninja anyway."

He didn't? Skuld leaned forward, slightly interested in what he had to say.

"I want to be a Hokage!" he shouted as he did a strong-man pose.

Her face fell. "Idiot."

"What?!"

"You have to be a ninja before you become a Hokage."

"I know that!" Naruto snapped before he stood up and assumed a righteous pose. "I'll be the first one to become the Hokage without being a ninja first."

"Does that mean that you will quit the academy?" Skuld asked.

"Uhh..."

"Because once you graduate from the academy, you become a nin," she pointed out.

"But-but..."

Skuld blinked. She thought she had heard Naruto mumble 'Sakura-chan.'

-o-o-o-o-o-

If Skuld remembered being arrested, she made no mention of it. A day later, things seemed to return to normal.

"There's no way we'll both fit!" Naruto suddenly shouted, startling Skuld.

"What?" the raven haired girl asked as she picked up her wrench from where she had dropped it.

"It has to be larger!" Naruto shouted as he held his hands far apart to emphasize his point.

"That's inefficient. Who said you were going to ride it anyway?" Skuld challenged.

Naruto met the challenge. "Me!"

"When?"

"Now."

Skuld shrugged before she started wagging the wrench in her hand at him. "Well it's too late now. there's no way we can change the plans at this point in time."

Naruto grabbed the plans and ripped them up.

"What are you doing?!" Skuld shrieked.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Where are the wheels?" Skuld finally asked. She had just walked out for a minute...

Naruto pulled a pencil out of his mouth and stood up to greet Skuld with a grin. "If you look at it from the side, don't you think it looks like a turtle?"

"Put the wheels back," she ordered.

Naruto slowly picked up a wheel, and hid it behind his back. "No."

"Excuse me?" Skuld had been expecting this, but not this quickly.

"I'm helping to build this and I have a say in it."

"..."

Skuld threw her arms into the air. "Fine! Whatever! But your change means we need to alter the braking system."

-o-o-o-o-o-

... Skuld stared at their current progress before she picked up the tattered plans from the ground.

"What are you doing?"

Their current progress did not look a thing like what she had designed.

Naruto grinned and scratched his chin. "Now it really looks like a turtle."

"..."

"Skuld-chan?" Naruto wanted to know why she wasn't saying or doing anything.

The air seemed to freeze. "Get out..."

"But I-"

"Out!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

The two stared at the finished product.

"You wanted a turtle, right?" Skuld asked. She swept her hand to show off her latest invention. "Well, here it is."

When he had last seen it, it was basically a green brick with legs. No matter how much he claimed that it looked like a turtle, it didn't.

Now it looked like a living, really large, turtle. It had short stocky legs, a large shell, a gloomy expression...Skuld's attention to detail seemed to make it come alive. It opened its mouth and belched. Really alive! In fact, there wasn't even a handlebar anymore. To control the turtle, Skuld had chosen to use reins.

But Naruto didn't care about aesthetics. "Alright! Let's take it out for a spin."

_Pretty soon, the pedestrians were going to be treated to a strange sight of a large green turtle plodding along while carrying two children on its back. _

"Sakura-chan!"

The pink-haired girl turned to see who was calling her. When she felt something rub against her leg, she looked down before she slapped both hands to her mouth and her hair frizzed out. "Eeek!"

"You perverted turtle!" Naruto shouted angrily, completely misunderstanding the situation. He stood up and stomped down on its shell several times.

"Hey! Stop that!" Skuld shouted angrily.

_But before this happened..._

"It doesn't just look like a turtle, it's as fast as one too..." Naruto groused as he held onto the reins. He tugged slightly to the left and the turtle slowly started to turn in the same direction.

"Not really. Turtles move about one kilometer an hour on land, we're moving at least 4 times that fast.

"...it's still freaking slow!" Naruto complained.

"Isn't it great?" Skuld cheerfully asked, although her smile was a bit strained. She thought that this was very relaxing...to move along slowly while everyone was hurrying around you.

"No!" Naruto shouted as he prepared to jump off and walk.

Skuld grabbed onto his shoulder and glared when he turned to look at her. "Deal with it." 'We can't all get what we want.'

"I'll make it better!"

"You can't."

"I know how! Just remove some of the drive limiters that you installed before we left!"

"But I made this with you. I have a say in it too. And I say that I like it the way it is. Are you really going to be so shallow as to ignore my feelings? Are you going to go back on your own words? How can I trust you ever again if you do?" she challenged.

Naruto deflated and sat down. "Ah! No! Of course not."

"Good."

"I'll just make sure Skuld-chan doesn't find out." he grinned cheekily.

"Naruto..." Skuld growled.

Naruto held out both hands in front of him to ward her off. "Just kidding, just kidding," he said with a mischievous fox grin.

-o-o-o-o-o-

At an ice cream shop. The turtle was parked outside; shuffling quietly as it waited.

"Fine then! I'll be a nin! And I'll make my own way of the nin!" Naruto shouted as he thrust a spoon into the air, ignoring all the glares directed his way. "That's a promise."

He lowered his hand and started to dig in. "Hey Skuld-chan, what are we making next?"

Skuld just regarded him mildly before looking back down at her ice cream. It tasted better today than it had for a long time now.

Perhaps she didn't hate all ninjas.

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**Chapter Preview!**

Naruto ran out onto a stage. "Last time was Miya's special. This time it's Hanabi's turn! Told in a stunningly different fashion!" He pointed to the backstage. "Let's hear it for Hanabi!"

"It's awful." Hanabi bluntly said as she stepped out from behind the curtains.

Naruto gaped. "Hey hey, don't be like that. You were great!"

"You must mean Hinata?" Hanabi huffed before she turned away. No one noticed, but there was a slight bit of red staining her cheeks. She was embarrassed.

**Next Chapter!  
Jya'n!**

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(1) Skuld had obviously never seen Naruto in action when he's tied up.  
(2) Naruto isn't being stupid. Skuld is using a term that he's not familiar with. I mean, I really can't see the nins referring to the ground that they live on as "Earth." I mean, when I think of Earth, I think of a round world. But the elemental countries only seem to occupy a large continent. How would they know that they're living on a giant rock floating in space if they only live on a small part of it?

(3) Every time I read this line, I replace 'that toy' with 'that ∗∗∗∗∗∗'. That's when its hilarity doubles. I can attribute this wild thought to nonjon's story: A Black Comedy. Parental advisories apply.

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**Invention Datasheets:**

**Skuld's Inventions:  
**Naruto: "I dunno why, but someone tried to steal the turtle. It moved so slow that we didn't even have to run after the guy that was taking it. So yeah, we got it back...but can't we make it go faster?"  
Miya_: "...Insert 1 credit..."_  
"Miss Skuld! It won't let me join!"

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The Turtle

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A mechanical turtle with four legs. It's about 1.5 meters wide, 2 meters long, and half a meter tall. Room on the shell for two children, plenty of leg room.

Top speed: less than 5 kph (less than 3 mph)  
Maximum load: 400 kg  
You don't control it. It walks wherever it wants to go. You can offer it suggestions however...through the reins.

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Banpei II-san

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It was originally developed to protect Naruto. Doesn't do that anymore. However, it functions well as a housemaid.  
- Temporarily replaces Banpei-kun.  
- Currently damaged and inactive

**Banpei II-san's Current Personalities**  
_Normal Bot  
_Strength: Happy to do the ordinary jobs  
Weakness: Prone to changing personalities.

_Psycho Bot_  
Strength: Unpredictable. Superhuman.  
Weakness: Easily distracted. Uncontrollable.

_Swashbuckler Bot  
_Strength: It has a strength?  
Weakness: Kick it over, it'll go down easily.

_Samurai Bot_  
A personality that Skuld did not add in.  
Strength...insanely powerful fighter  
Weakness...houseflies. Pulls out chopsticks and tries to catch them.

**Naruto's Inventions:  
**Skuld: "Don't talk to me, I'm busy!"  
_Sign on Door:_ ⌈Insert 1 credit to join.⌋  
"Where are you, Miss Skuld?"

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Limited-Invisibility Bomb

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This wasn't really invented by Naruto. And Skuld already knew about it. But Naruto is the one who puts it to use.  
- The bomb-aspect is not a joke. Before one can become invisible, one must survive the explosion. Which is easy to do actually...but staying conscious or waking up before the invisibility ends is a whole different story.  
- Time limited – The invisibility slowly fades away with time. One can stay invisible for about two hours.  
- Not true invisibility – A watchful nin will see a shadow moving along the ground. In addition, sound is not masked. However, smell is negated.

-o-o-o-o-o-

**Character Data Sheets**

Skuld  
Goddess of the future, youngest of the three Norns.

Current Traits:  
- Mature  
- Genius at inventions

- Thinks inside of the box. But she knows so much that the box is really big.

- Courageous

- Methodical  
- Distant

Notes:  
- Because of past events, Skuld has been a bit quiet lately as she retreated into a shell.

- Naruto is probably the only one right now who can infuriate Skuld.

-o-o-o-o-o-

**About Gods and Nins:**

Many gods have a hatred of nins. However, their reasons differ.  
- Some hate how ninjas have turned killing into a business. And it's not small either...it's country-level. This means many people are living in fear.

- Others hate the selective breeding going on. Where's the romance?  
- Some rally behind the Jinchuuriki, and when you see how the Jinchuuriki are treated, you'd be mad too.

There is no set reason, but the odd thing is that it's not a couple gods that hate the nins...it's nearly all of them. Normally, most of the gods could care less, but something big happened in the past. Before that event, the gods did what they could to help make things easier. Unbelievably, that meant that the gods worked to keep every nin's power level on an equal level. So you can say that without the gods, the nins really are becoming stronger. But the world is taking a steep nosedive as well because the destruction and fear is growing worse with each generation.

One should note that the gods in my story usually do not influence events directly. This means that they don't behave like the Greek Gods who would go down to earth and then walk among the people, performing miracles along the way. No, these gods are there to ensure that the universe operates smoothly. Not gather worshippers. So if an individual is causing problems, they are removed...but not with a giant lightning bolt or transmutation. It's done in a subtle manner...like say the gods affect the weather conditions and change the target's travelling route...to one which a desperate man is about to take.

Not all of the gods hate nins however...  
- Many gods of war absolutely love the bloodshed and new battle tactics developed.

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Umm, I have 3 reasons why this update took forever.

- My writing skill leveled up. This means that I was busy upgrading everything: fight scene choreography, dialogue, detailing, plot-advancement, plot-element linking…  
I would like to thank the people whose stories I tried to beta. Their input helped me greatly in this upgrade.

- I was working on at least 120 pages worth of new material. But wait, this chapter itself is about 50 pages! That means that I've been revising! Yes! WTAE has a very different Chapter 2 and 4. The other chapters have received many minor changes.  
- 120 freaking pages! I love stories, but that's too much. You'll agree with me when I say that 10 page essays are easier. Whatever free time I had, (which was a lot actually), I put off the writing and played video games.

Anyway, don't worry about my low review count. I love this story too much to care. But I really appreciate those who enjoy this tale. Please, tell me how I can make you, the reviewers who like this tale, happier.

Hmm, hey, I think the caramelldansen craze is going to get pretty big. It's that catchy∼ Easy too.

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Acknowledgements:

**RobotPirateNinja**, this chapter is dedicated to you. When you reviewed after I changed the summary to include the word 'Pirate', you reinforced the idea and then the center of this plot developed. Don't worry about the pushover swashbuckler.

**The Great Rick**, thanks for prodding me. There were some parts that were a bear to work through, but I prevailed.


	11. Ch9: Special::Hanabi

_Hanabi? An adult-like child with limitless possibilities in talent and personality. With Naruto and her friends there, the proud girl will not break to those who wish to control her._

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**A Wish to an End**  
by TamaSaga

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ah! My Goddess, or All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku. I am merely borrowing ideas and characters to create a story that others will enjoy. In no way do I intend to make a profit off of this story.

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_Jump to the future. It's been a month after Naruto and Skuld met Hanabi in Chapter 4. And several months since the events in Chapter 8._

_It was because of their father that the relationship between Hanabi and Hinata had strained nearly to the breaking point. It was a close thing, but then Naruto came along at just the right time._

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"...chan?"

"Nabi-chan?"

"NABI-CHAmmmff!"

Startled from her thoughts, Hanabi looked up to see the other three staring at her. She blinked owlishly at the sight of Skuld-san covering Naruto-san's mouth.

"Miss Skuld?" Miya timidly asked. Skuld turned to the pink-haired girl, and then yanked her hand away.

Naruto was quick to react now that his mouth was free. "So, what do you think Nabi-chan? Are you free tomorrow?"

"...?" Hanabi thought about it for a moment before she nodded.

"Great! Okay! It's decided then, we're going to check it out tomorrow. I'm sure they have some neat stuff stashed away for us." Naruto cheered, pumping his arm high in the air and losing his ice cream cone in the process.

_'He's going to be disappointed'_, Skuld thought worriedly as she covered her head and ducked.

¤ Splat. ¤

Miya stiffened up dramatically. And then the remains of the cone started to leak down her back. "Cold!" she shrieked as she reached for her back and struggled to remove the freezing cold dairy treat.

As Naruto hurried over to help his pink-haired friend out, Skuld was staring at Hanabi.

"Get it out, get it out!" the pink-haired girl cried.

"Hold still Miya-chan!" Naruto shouted back as he ducked, dodging Miya's shoulder tackle.

Skuld blinked as she noticed something. "Stop!" she suddenly called out, freezing the two in place. The ice cream cone slid out from the bottom of Miya's shirt and landed with a plop.

Naruto took a tentative step forward. "Skuld-chan?"

Skuld shook her head sadly. "Naruto, I need to cancel. I have something to take care of tomorrow." Skuld assertively said before she smiled and relaxed. "maybe next time."

"Aww...but..."

Skuld turned to their perky catgirl friend. "And you can't go either Miya. You need a checkup."

Miya recoiled in terror. "What?! I do? But I thought Miss Skuld gave me one a week ago."

"I did. But another one won't hurt."

Miya fell to her knees and stared up at Skuld. "But Miya wants to go with Mr. Naruto." she begged loudly before she deflated and quietly whimpered, "Will there be a needle?"

"But..." Naruto tried to protest.

Skuld turned to Hanabi. "Hanabi can still go, right? Why don't you two go alone?"

Naruto had a confused look on his face. "Huh? Sure..." his expression morphed to one of annoyance. "but isn't it Skuld-chan's turn to cook?"

Instead of answering, Skuld turned to look at the fourth member of their group, the one that hadn't said anything the entire time.

Caught staring, Hanabi quickly averted her eyes and ducked her head.

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**Chapter 9: Special - Hanabi.**

Characters: Naruto, Hanabi, Hinata

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When the servant entered my bedroom to wake me up, she found that I was already awake and sitting up. But I was still in bed, staring down at the white bedsheets. Wondering. What would the room look like if they were in purple? Or maybe red. Anything but white.

I didn't want to get up. It would mean another day of disappointing everyone.

I was so weak. Why couldn't I be stronger...like Naruto-kun? Even when he failed a test...or lost to his opponent...he would still stand up, smile, and train.

A feeling of warmth blossomed within me. I want to be like Naruto-kun. I don't want to give up when things become tough. I resolutely climbed out of bed and onto the soft but cold tatami floor.

-o-o-o-o-o-

After removing my nightgown, I briefly entertained the thought of Naruto happening to glance in through the open window as he pulled one of his pranks on this mansion.

When I felt the heat rise to my face, I quickly entered the furo and ducked down to hide my blush.

I think I lost track of the time. When Hanabi entered the bathroom, I blinked and sat up, feeling as if I was just waking up from a dream.

I stared at my younger sister. She is exhausted, and it looks like it's taking all she has to stay awake. The droplets of water that covered her body was not from the steam that filled the air.

Hanabi stumbled slightly when she picked up the full bucket of water. She really was becoming stronger, I thought happily. She did not need help with the bucket this time. With a mighty heave, she lifted it above her head and inhaled sharply when the cold water washed away the sweat.

When she set the bucket down and turned to glare at me, I knew what she wanted.

Remembering my resolve from this morning, I didn't leave. Instead, I shifted a little to give her room to enter. It had been some time since we were together, I wanted to ask her what father had been teaching her lately.

I saw the surprise pass across her face, but then her glare hardened.

A feeling of disappointment welled up within me as I stood up and climbed out of the furo.

As I left the bathroom, I heard the water shift as Hanabi entered.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As I waited in my room for breakfast, I opened one of the academy textbooks to read.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew a servant was tapping my shoulder and notifying me of the time.

I hurried to the dining room, worried about how severe father's reaction would be. I stopped short when I saw the glares from Hanabi and father.

"You're late," father said in a cold voice when I left the sanctuary of the hallway and entered the dining room.

"S-Sorry f-father," I found myself replying as I bowed low to apologize.

He didn't reply; I was beneath his attention.

The air at the breakfast table was cold. I wished that I wasn't here...that I did not have to be here. But father demanded that everyone be present for breakfast.

We were halfway through our meal when someone broke the silence.

"Father."

I looked up when I heard Hanabi speak. Breakfast was often a quiet affair, it was an unwritten rule that people tended to speak only when there was something important to discuss.

"Yes daughter?"

"I wish to be excused from practice for the afternoon."

"Do you have a reason?"

"I have been invited to accompany a friend to the Hokage Monument today."

I was surprised and, I think, delighted. The branch house rarely expressed interest in making friends with the main house members. I silently wished Hanabi's friendship the best of luck.

"No," Father harshly responded. "The Jyuuken style has no use for a practitioner who attacks with wasteful bursts of chakra. You have no time to waste on trivialities if you cannot disable a chakra point in a precise manner."

"I understand," Hanabi said with a small nod as she returned to her meal. It was fleeting, but I think Hanabi looked sad for one brief moment.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As I trudged down the quiet empty hallway, I happened to peer into an open doorway. Hard rubber mats lined the floor of the large training room inside. It was here that Father would train Hanabi in the early morning. He had stopped training me some time ago when he found out that I was weak.

The Hyuuga clan needed a strong leader. I wasn't fit for the role.

Hanabi...I don't hate her for taking my place. But I worry for her. She's strong, stronger than I am. But her strength pales before father, and the council controls everyone. Both of our lives were going to become worse.

I should have been stronger. With everyone focusing their attention on me, I could have shielded Hanabi from them. Suffered for her. Protected her. She is maturing too quickly. She is far too serious for a child her age.

Hanabi...I'm sorry. Your sister is weak and unfit. She should not have been your sister.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I couldn't help but feel a little happier when I left the quiet mansion. The sun was just starting to shine, and the birds were happily singing in the background.

I slowly made my way to the academy. I hope that Naruto-kun did not skip class today.

-o-o-o-o-o-

We were outside for practice, using the forest training area when I noticed that Naruto-kun was missing. Inuzuka-san was gone as well.

"Naruto? Naruto?!"

I was taken aback when I heard Iruka-sensei's curse.

"What seems to be the problem?" Mizuki-sensei asked as he walked up.

"The brat's gone."

Mizuki-sensei turned to me. "Hinata."

I immediately felt myself tense. "H-hai?!"

Use your bloodline to tell us where they are."

"Y-yes!" I quickly agreed.

I quickly formed the required hand seals. But I was so worried that I fumbled the third one. I didn't want to see what would happen, so I started over.

I fumbled the last one!

They were both staring impatiently at me. The rest of the class was too.

When I formed the very first seal, I realized that I had messed up. Again! On the very first seal! Oh my god, I couldn't do this! Why did they have to call on me!

I shut my eyes tightly and tried again. This time I wasn't going to stop if I messed up. I didn't care if I exploded or not! I just wanted them to stop staring at me! I felt my hands reach the last seal.

"Byakugan." I whispered, praying that my death wouldn't be painful.

And then the world exploded around me.

It took me some time to regain my bearings and realized that I had not died...

But everything was blurry.

I quickly realized that my eyes were still closed.

When I opened my eyes, the world came into focus and I could see all around and above me. I was using my bloodline!

"Finally," Mizuki-sensei said.

I felt my head fall as shame filled me.

"Now where are they?"

I searched around frantically. I have a ninety-five degree blind spot, and I can't see very far, but I think I spotted Kiba running in the direction opposite the academy, into the forest.

I looked around for Naruto-kun. I didn't see him anywhere and I was feeling dizzy from all the turning around.

I cancelled my bloodline and felt myself sway off balance. I fell against a nearby tree.

In that same motion, I had chanced a glance upward. I saw a shadow in the branches above. When it shifted, I felt my eyes grow wide.

It was Naruto-kun, he was sitting upon a tree branch right over me. He had a finger to his lips as he stared down at me, telling me to stay quiet.

'Oh no.' I felt lightheaded.

...He was right over me...

...He saw me make mistakes.

Before I could cry, I felt a hand land on my head.

"Hinata, did you see them?" Mizuki-sensei asked.

I nodded.

"Where are they?" Iruka-sensei demanded.

I didn't know how to answer. They weren't together. What should I do?

I was about to point upwards because Naruto-kun was closer when something made me stop. My finger pointed in another direction.

_Sorry Inuzuka-san. _"I-Inu-zu...-s-san is t-that way."

I could tell that both teachers were struggling to hear what I said. Iruka-sensei finally asked, "Where is Naruto?"

_Naruto-kun wanted me to stay quiet. _A feeling of apprehension built up within me as Mizuki-sensei and Iruka-sensei continued to stare at me.

Right when I was about to point upwards and give away Naruto-kun's postion, Mizuki-sensei spoke. "She probably doesn't know. Must be out of her sight range."

"Damn. Well, I'll get Kiba then." Iruka growled. I shrunk back when he glared at me, I didn't mean to disappoint him...

"Alright then, let's get back to work." Mizuki clapped loudly, grabbing everyone's attention.

We continued to throw Kunai at the targets while Iruka-sensei went off in the direction that I pointed. When it was my turn, I missed all of them.

Before Yamanaka-san could try, Iruka returned with a heavily bound Inuzuka-san. Inuzuka-san's pet was being dragged along as he held onto Iruka-sensei's pants with his teeth

I glanced behind me, to see what Naruto-kun was doing. That was when I noticed a large white teardrop fall from above...

-o-o-o-o-o-

There was a lot of screaming as smoke suffocated the clearing. Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei were both shouting at everyone to calm down

Someone grabbed me and panic seized my body. I was being kidnapped! I tried to resist, but then he whispered into my ear.

"Shh, stay quiet. We're getting out of here."

The blood rushed to my face and I started to feel dizzy. Naruto-kun was holding my hand!

I couldn't faint...I couldn't faint...

...I think I'm going to faint...

-o-o-o-o-o-

"I can't believe you left me behind!" Kiba shouted as he ran up to us Akamaru trotting quickly after him. "Who's this? Is that...I can't believe it! You saved the weird girl instead of me?! Some friend you are!"

I winced. '...weird girl...' I don't know what I do differently from all of the normal girls, but all of my classmates think that I am weird...even Naruto-kun, I think.

I saw Naruto-kun grin at Inuzuka-san. "I knew you were going to escape,"

"Where are those two?!" someone shouted.

I couldn't help but let out a squeak when I felt a sharp tug on my hand. A hand slammed over my mouth and then Naruto started pushing me from behind. '_What was going on?' I wondered desperately. I felt him forcefully push me from behind. 'Was Naruto-kun really kidnapping me?' _

"Shh! This way!" Naruto-kun continued pushing me deeper into the forest before we arrived at a wall. Inuzuka-san followed closely after us.

When Naruto-kun finally pulled his hand away and released me, I couldn't help but feel worried. Was this when a shinobi from Kumo would arrive?

I watched as Kiba and Naruto turned to each other.

"This is where we split up, right?" Inuzuka-san asked.

"Yeah." Naruto-kun said with a nod. We watched Inuzuka-san walk off. "Hey. Don't get caught. Otherwise I'll be laughing at you in class tomorrow." Naruto-kun called out.

Inuzuka-san paused and turned to us. "Heh, the same to you."

"Che. They'll never catch me." Naruto-kun boasted loudly as he walked off. I wish I had his confidence.

I soon found myself standing alone in the middle of the forest. I don't think I was going to be kidnapped by a foreign nation, but why would Naruto-kun leave me here? Had he forgotten about me?

I stood there until Inuzuka-san passed me. He was trailing after Naruto-kun. I quickly followed after the two, praying that they wouldn't get angry if they saw me.

We hadn't walked far when Naruto-kun turned around. "I thought we were supposed to split up."

I took a step back. Oh...I guess he didn't want me to follow him after all. I backed up several more steps and hid behind a tree and watched as Inuzuka-san took a step forward. "Hey. I just wanted to ask what you were gonna do now."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because...?" Naruto slowly drew out.

"Just shut up and answer the question."

"Fine. I'm going to...uhh, I'm going to take a friend to find some treasure."

"Treasure?"

"Yeah! It's going to be something really rare and really cool!" Naruto-kun happily shouted. I found myself wishing that he would take me along.

"Do you even know what it is?"

"Nope! But it's going to be great! Believe it!" Naruto-kun cheered loudly before he turned and walked off.

"Hmmph." Inuzuka-san grumped before he started following after Naruto-kun again.

I hid in my spot until the two had disappeared. Then I decided to head home. I don't think my instructors would be happy with me if I returned to class.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As I stood outside of the walls of the Hyuuga mansion, just out of the sight range of the guards, I had to wonder why I believed that my father would be any happier if he discovered that I was not in class.

"I was wondering where you had disappeared to!" Someone whispered to me from behind. My heart started to race when I realized that someone had spotted me.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I hurriedly turned around to see who it belonged to. Naruto-kun!

He was startled for a brief moment before he grinned at me. He put his hand behind his head. "Hey! Sorry about startling you." he said before he took my hand. "C'mon. Let's go."

I could feel my face grow warm as I felt myself being pulled along...

_Naruto-kun..._

-o-o-o-o-o-

On our second pass around the walls, I couldn't help but wonder why Naruto-kun was searching around the mansion. If he wanted to enter, why didn't he approach the main gate?

"How'd you know that I was coming here anyway?" he finally asked on his third pass.

"I-I live h-here..." I found myself replying, but I don't think he heard because he didn't say anything afterwards.

He continued to lead me up and down the wall. When he stopped to feel around at one point in the wall, it was almost like he was trying to find a way in.

He turned to me. "Heh, sorry about this. Normally I come at night. It's much easier to see it then."

Naruto-kun had been to my home before? At night? Did he...did he see me in my nightgown? Oh my god!

"How do we get in?" he mumbled quietly as he craned his head to stare at the top of the wall.

I was glad that he hadn't noticed my blush. When I recovered enough of my senses, I tugged lightly on his sleeve. "T-this way."

"What?"

"This w-way," I repeated raising my voice slightly. I felt like a heel afterwards. It wasn't Naruto-kun's fault.

"Oh! Haha, sorry about that," he laughed at me. "You spoke so quietly."

"Sorry..."

"Hey hey, there's no need to apologize dattebayo."

"Sorry..."

"I told you not to apologize!"

When I apologized the third time, it wasn't out loud.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I took Naruto-kun to a hidden hole in the wall that I had known about since I was little. I don't think anyone else knew about it.

"Wow, hey! This is what I was looking for. Thanks!" He stopped halfway into the hole. "Wait here."

I nodded and then he disappeared. What was Naruto-kun up to? It occurred to me that Naruto-kun was looking for someone. Was it a girl? But the only girl that I could think of that would not be busy at this time of day was Anya-san of the branch house...

...was Naruto-kun interested in...old women?

"Give that back."

I started when I realized that I recognized that voice.

Naruto ran out moments later.

Hanabi came out soon afterwards. "I have already told you that I cannot go today, Father says that I need extra training."

"But we promised to go today. And I'm not going to leave you behind."

What was going on? Why did Naruto pull Hanabi out?

Hanabi turned to me and stared. I started to fidget under her gaze.

"You shouldn't be here." she finally said.

"Hey! You know her?" Naruto interrupted before I could reply.

Hanabi turned to regard Naruto for several moments before she replied, "She's my sister?"

"Woah! Really Nabi-chan?! I had no idea you had a sister! What's her name?"

_Nabi-chan?! _Naruto-kun had given my sister a nickname already?!

"Hinata." I saw her eyes narrow as she turned to me. "Why is she here?"

"C'mon! Don't be like that! She saved me!"

_Saved? How? I didn't save him..._

"I find that hard to believe." I couldn't help but feel depressed when my own sister confirmed my thoughts. "Now give me back my lunch."

"How could you eat this stuff? It's gross."

Hanabi looked like she wanted to agree, but she looked away instead. "Just give it back. I have to continue training with Father soon."

"Nope. Let's go." He ran off, laughing.

Hanabi stood in her spot for a moment before she growled and ran after Naruto. "Give that back!"

I stared at the mansion for a moment before I turned and followed after the two. While father doesn't care about me, he would be severely displeased to see me outside of the academy at this time.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Were we really still in Konoha? It was hard to believe we were traveling down the backside of the Hokage monument.

Naruto-kun turned to us and started to walk backwards. "C'mon, hurry it up! The treasure's waiting!"

I winced when he fell to the ground after tripping over a protruding rock. Naruto-kun soon sat up and tried to pick it up, only, it wouldn't come out.

Soon he bent down and started to dig. It took him some time, but he finally uncovered the rock completely. It was large...only the tip had been showing earlier.

"How's that," he gloated before he tried to lift it.

"Nnnngh." The rock didn't move.

It didn't look like he could move it alone...

"Ano..." I took a step forward to help and he looked at me. A large grin filled his face as he waved at me to move back. "Don't worry Hinata-chan, I got this."

"Hai..."

I watched as he struggled for several more minutes. A surge of admiration welled up within me as I watched him. He wasn't giving up.

_You can do it...Naruto-kun..._

I think I saw the rock move a little when he flopped down upon it. When he stood up, I was hoping to see him move it this time. I was disappointed when he kicked it instead.

I think I heard a snort from Hanabi when Naruto-kun began hopping wildly on one foot afterwards. But the calm look on her face made it hard to tell.

Soon he started to pile dirt onto the rock. In moments it was completely covered, you wouldn't have known that it was there. _Oh,_ I thought glumly. _He was so close too._

"There!" Naruto shouted. "Stupid rock!" He taunted.

"That rock won't be bothering anyone anymore." Hanabi commented. I almost missed it, but I think there was a tinge of sarcasm in Hanabi's voice.

"Yup." Naruto-kun failed to see anything special in Hanabi's voice.

...Maybe I was mistaken...

-o-o-o-o-

We were on our way soon after.

Naruto-kun led the way for a short distance before he turned and looked at me. I saw him walk slower. I stopped as well, but he beckoned at me to come closer.

Soon the two of us were walking together, and I was dimly aware as he continued a story that he had been telling me earlier.

"So anyway, Dog-boy and I were arguing about which girl was the best and, get this, just when we were about to start hollering at each other, the one he wanted, I think Ino was her name, walked up to us and started yelling at us to shut up. When the Mutt tried to invite her on a date, she kicked him out out of his chair. See! We all know that Sakura-chan is better. She wouldn't do something that mean.

I could only nod my head, too afraid to say something and ruin the moment. I was there. Naruto-kun and Inuzuka-san were shouting at each other and Yamanaka-san stopped arguing with the other girls over Uchiha-san because they were too loud.

Naruto-kun turned away. "Hey Nabi-chan! Why are you walking so far away. Come closer and join in."

Hanabi looked over at us before she turned away, she didn't slow down at all.

"Hey hey, are you ignoring me? After everything that I've done for you?"

And then Naruto-kun ran over.

"Let me go," Hanabi demanded as she struggled to pull her arm away from his grasp. I saw her wince. _Naruto-kun, you're hurting her._

Naruto-kun seemed to notice as he quickly released Hanabi's arm and then tried to push my sister over. "C'mon closer. It's more fun when we're all together."

Hanabi did not budge. "No."

Naruto paused to ask, "Why not!"

Hanabi pointed at me. "Her."

Naruto turned to me and stared. I looked away.

"Hinata-chan? What's wrong with her?"

I winced. I could think of so many reasons...

"She's weak."

I couldn't help but feel betrayed. Hanabi used the one that hurt the most.

"Weak?" I wanted to cry when I heard Naruto-kun say that. Now he was going to look down on me as well.

"She's not weak."

I was startled when I heard that. Had I heard wrong?

Hanabi had a confused look on her face. I think she believed that Naruto-kun must have heard wrong. "She is weak." she repeated.

"How do you know?" Naruto-kun challenged. It was then that I knew that I was not delusional.

"Father says she is."

Naruto-kun suddenly grasped my arm and yanked me forward. I nearly fell from the loss of balance.

As a haze started to cloud my thoughts, I distantly heard..."Does this look weak?" I felt him pull up a sleeve of my coat and show off my thin arm.

There was a faint, "Yes" from Hanabi.

_'Please Naruto-kun, let go,'_ I prayed desperately, he was embarrassing me.

And then I dimly heard, "...Hinata-chan, are you okay?" It was so faint that I kept thinking that I was imagining it. Was someone shaking me?

"I'm going ahead." I distantly heard my sister say. Moments later, there was the sound of rock crumbling.

"Ahhh!"

The haze started to lift when I heard Naruto-kun shout "Nabi-chan!" I felt myself fall when he stopped holding me up. It felt like a dream. As I collapsed to the ground, I watched as he turned toward Hanabi and dived for the edge. He reached out just as my sister disappeared from view.

"Hanabi!" someone shrieked. It was me, I soon realized, and time returned to normal as the dreamy feeling disappeared.

"Don't let go! Don't let go!" I heard Hanabi scream frantically from below. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, Naruto-kun had caught her.

And then, to my horror, Naruto-kun slipped forward.

Hanabi screamed again.

Naruto turned to look at me, a look of panic on his face. "Hinata-chan! Help!"

What could I do? I didn't know what to do! I looked around for an answer.

The sound of rocks sliding on rocks pulled my attention back to Naruto-kun!

"Help us Hinata-chan! "

I don't know why, but I threw myself onto him just as he was about to slip over.

It wasn't enough. The sound of rocks sliding over each other grew as we were pulled forward. Before I knew it, I was holding tightly onto Naruto-kun as we went over the edge. Then all three of us started to fall.

I didn't want to see my death, so I closed my eyes and hugged him tighter. This had to be a bad dream.

-o-o-o-o-o-

A large gust of air rushed upwards before we finally crashed into the ground, only the ground seemed to give way under us...were we going to hell? _But I hadn't done anything!_

That was when the ground started to push up and I found myself desperately clinging onto Naruto-kun as a feeling of vertigo assaulted my senses. I was being turned inside out, I realized. That was what was happening. When father found the three of us, we would be unrecognizable.

That feeling quickly disappeared when I felt myself being pulled downward again.

"Yahooo!" Naruto-kun's back rumbled against my cheek as he shouted loudly..

_ What was happening?!_ I opened my eyes, only to close them again when I realized that I was staring at Naruto-kun's back and not a pillow. Oh my god...

The ground gave way once again when we fell into it, and right when we came to a stop, we were launched into the air again. After three bounces, we finally stopped moving.

"Hey uh...Hinata-chan, you can let go now." Naruto-kun sounded uncomfortable when he said that.

My eyes shot open and I jumped off, only to stumble and sink deep into the soft pink surface. I desperately reached out for a protrusion that was far taller than me, only to fall over when it bent under my weight. What was this? What did we land on?

Hahahaha, that was fun! Naruto-kun shouted as he struggled to stand up. He fell over soon after.

There was a large indent in the ground nearby, I slowly crawled over to investigate. I soon found out that my sister was laying inside.

Hanabi had a wild look on her face and she was gasping desperately for breath, but she didn't seem to have any physical injuries.

"Let's do it again." Naruto-kun shouted as he landed right next to us, I let out a squeak when the ground shook wildly and I lost my balance.

That brought Hanabi out of her stupor. "We could have died!" She shouted as she sat up.

"No we wouldn't! I had it all under control." I'm not sure why I had that feeling, but I think Naruto-kun was lying when he said that. Hanabi seemed calmer now however.

Naruto-kun started jumping away. "C'mon. This way." he shouted.

The three of us struggled to the edge. The pink ended, and we were slowly sliding down a soft velvety skin-colored surface that ended at the ground below.

I stood up and turned around, curious to see what had saved us from falling to our deaths.

I wish I hadn't.

When I saw the giant emerald-green orbs, the pink suddenly made sense. It was-we had landed on a giant balloon of Haruno-san! Naruto-kun...you didn't!

"Hee. Like it? Skuld-chan was really mad when she found out that I had used her entire rubber stockpile to make it. Hmm..." he stared at it for a moment before a grin filled his face. "Hey! I thought I messed up and made the forehead too small, but after it's been blown up, it looks just the right size. I can't wait till she sees it!"

"She's fat." Hanabi finally said from off to the side.

My eyes immediately went to the midsection of the balloon. It wasn't just the waist, but the arms and legs as well. Haruno-san was going to be mad.

"A-Ano, I don't think you should sh-show that to Haruno-s-san," I don't think it was just worry for Naruto-kun's safety that made me say that. Naruto-kun's face fell...I felt like a heel and found myself wishing I could take back my words.

"Aww, but I spent a long time making this."

"It's ugly. Throw it away." Hanabi said with a frown.

"...fine, I can see that you two don't like it. I'm sure Sakura-chan will appreciate it though."

And then the giant balloon was gone. It had disappeared as quickly as it had came. How?

"Sorry..." I tried to apologize for my harsh words.

But Naruto-kun was stalking off. He wasn't listening to me.

I looked mournfully back the way we came. Now that we were on the ground behind the Hokage monument, it was a long climb back to the top. But Naruto-kun was angry at us and I was worried about what lay ahead. What should I do?

...When Hanabi followed after him, I had no choice but to follow as well.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I think we had been travelling for half an hour when a loud rustling in the bushes caused all of us to pause.

Naruto-kun started to walk up and investigate when it stepped out.

It was a bear cub.

"That's it?" Naruto-kun finally asked. He sounded a little annoyed. "You don't scare me." he finally said to the bear cub as it slowly approached us.

closer...

Closer...

Right when I could reach out and touch it, Naruto-kun suddenly threw his arms into the air. "RAWR," he screamed at it, scaring the cub.

I watched Naruto-kun chase the bear cub into the trees. He stopped before he entered the tree cover and turned to us with a grin. I couldn't help but think how mean that was of him.

I turned to my younger sister to see what she thought about Naruto-kun's action. She was watching, but there wasn't a hint of emotion on her face. I could not tell what she was thinking.

I started when Naruto-kun called out to me. "What's wrong Hinata-chan?"

My eyes self-consciously lowered to the ground as I answered him. "T-That was a bit..." _cruel Naruto-kun,_ was what I wanted to say but I couldn't bring myself to complete the sentence.

"What? A bit what?" he prodded as he walked up.

"...cruel... " the instant the word left my mouth, I wanted to take it back. Naruto-kun was already mad at me. This would make him hate me.

"Huh?" he asked as he leaned in. I breathed a small sigh of relief, Naruto-kun hadn't heard what I had said.

Before I could think of a more suitable reply however...

"GROARF!" A large tree fell in front of us.

"..." all three of us turned to the new animal. It was bigger. Much bigger. Was this the mother or the father?

"Holy!" Naruto-kun cried out. "Run!" The words had not even left his mouth when both my sister and Naruto-kun had disappeared from my side. But I couldn't move. I was too afraid.

I distantly heard one of them shout out, "Wait, we have to go back. Hinata-chan is in trouble."

But it was too late, the large bear was already in front of me.

I shut my eyes when it raised its giant paw.

Moments afterward, I felt the bear rub my head lightly before leaving something on top.

I cracked an eye open and watched as the large bear turned around and lumbered off.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I was confused. Why did the bear leave a leaf on my head?

I looked toward Naruto-kun.

He turned to me and grinned. I couldn't help but feel elated. He wasn't mad at me anymore.

"That was so cool Hinata-chan! What did you do to that bear?!" he asked me.

_I don't know. _I quickly turned away, feelings of embarrassment overwhelming me. In doing so, I caught sight of Hanabi; she was exhausted. We had been walking for some time now and she needed a rest.

"Ano, U-Uzumaki-s-san"

"Call me Naruto, Hinata-chan!"

That was so casual. Naruto-kun had given me his permission. I concentrated; I had to get this right. "N-N-N-N-Uzumaki-s-san

"Naruto!" he insisted.

I wanted to cry. I really was trying! I desperately looked around for something to help. I turned to my sister, but she was crouched down and swaying erratically.

"Ha-Hanabi"

"Hinata-chan! I'm not Hanabi. She...is?" he turned to my sister and paused. "You look tired Nabi-chan."

"I'm not." she growled as she forcefully stood up and began to stubbornly plod on.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"We should rest," Naruto finally suggested in a worried tone of voice.

"I can keep going." Hanabi struggled. She was breathing heavily and she looked like she could collapse at any moment.

"We should rest!" Naruto insisted again.

"I" Hanabi grunted, "have to get home as quickly as possible. Father is waiting."

"You could die if you keep pushing yourself like this. What would your father say then?"

Hanabi didn't say the next few words...I did. "F-Father wouldn't care." I must have been tired as well, because I have no other explanation for why I said that.

"Uhh..." Naruto was staring at me with shock written on his face. I felt ashamed, I had said too much.

Hanabi was outraged. "Yes he would!" she shouted at me.

I didn't want to upset Hanabi, but I couldn't stop. "If f-father cared..." I started to say.

"He cares!" she shouted at me.

"Hey guys...?" I distantly heard Naruto trying to mediate, but we were in the middle of an argument.

"F-Father...he only cares about the clan. He doesn't care about us." I found myself shouting back.

Hanabi was very angry. "Take that back!" Before I knew it, she was running at me with her arms outstretched.

I fell backwards, the force of her push knocking me to the ground.

"No he's not!" she shouted down at me.

"..." I had to concede. Hanabi was too strong. I couldn't win.

"Uh...Nabi...chan?"

"Be quiet! This is your fault." she snapped at him before taking the lead...but she seemed to be going in a different direction than we were heading earlier.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Home."

"No, c'mon. Stay Nabi-chan! We're almost there."

"I will not waste anymore time on your trivi-trivialities!"

Naruto ran in front of her and held his arms out to block her way. "Stay!"

"Who are you to order a Hyuuga around? Stand aside commoner."

Naruto reached out to catch her arm and I watched with horror as Hanabi lashed out at him, only...she missed.

My horror grew when I watched her fall against him, taking him down with her.

Naruto was the first to hit the ground. Hanabi fell on top of him.

I hurried over to help them up, something supernatural removing any indecision that I might have had.

-o-o-o-o-o-

By the time I had arrived, Hanabi had managed to separate herself from Naruto and she was now sitting nearby, fixing us with a quiet glare.

Naruto sat up and checked his pockets. Hanabi's lunch was the first thing that he pulled out. It was squashed from the fall. An angry expression appeared on Hanabi's face.

"Eh heh...sorry Nabi-chan."

"Now what will I eat?" My sister demanded in a cross tone of voice.

"No problem!" Naruto cheerily said as he pulled something from his pocket. "Hey Hinata-chan, don't tell anyone about this."

"?"

Naruto-kun held a small boxlike object out to me and grinned before tossing it underhand toward a clearing.

There was a giant cloud of smoke.

And when it cleared, I beheld a red and white checkered tablecloth lying upon the ground, covering multiple upside-down bowl-shaped objects.

Naruto-kun had a strange expression on his face as he walked up and lifted a corner of the tablecloth. He set it back down and reached into his pocket again. "Good thing Skuld gave me two of them."

Before he could toss this one however, Hanabi had pushed him to the ground before pulling the small cube from his hand. She placed it upon the red tablecloth.

When the smoke cleared, the tablecloth was blue and white. It was also covering everything again.

"..." All three of us stared. It was obvious that whatever was underneath was ruined again.

"...this is all your fault." Hanabi finally said.

Instead of answering, Naruto dug under the tablecloths and pulled out a pair of thermoses. "Yeah! Skuld-chan's thermoses! Guaranteed to keep the water hot for as long as you want."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a third cube and tossed it before Hanabi could stop him. A pile of large foam cups appeared when the smoke cleared.

"Ramen, anyone?"

Ramen? I had seen Naruto eating it before. At that stand that he liked to visit so much. It must have been delicious since he always ate so many bowls.

I picked up a cup. It was lighter than I expected. I saw Naruto-kun peel off the lid. Curious, I repeated this action for my cup. Inside were dry powder and vegetables heaped on top of noodles.

I looked up to see what Naruto-kun was doing. He was placing a large rock on top of his cup. "There!" he happily said before he turned to me. "What's wrong Hinata-chan?"

I looked down at my cup before searching around for a rock. _I thought ramen was a soup..._

-o-o-o-o-o-

When Naruto-kun pulled off his rock and started to eat, I moved to do the same. It was only after I removed the rock and lifted the lid when I realized my mistake.

"Hey, why didn't you add water Hinata-chan?" Naruto-kun asked as he peered over. He lifted up the colorful orange thermos. "Here."

"..." he wanted me to bring the cup over so that he could pour the water in. I moved to obey.

He poured in the hot water and in moments, the cup was steaming hot. I was about to eat when Naruto-kun immediately seized my chopsticks. "Wait wait! You have to wait 3 minutes before you can eat Hinata-chan."

_Oh._ I set the cup down and put my rock on top.

- Slrrp. - Hanabi was staring at me with a neutral expression on her face. I had to wonder how she knew how to make ramen properly.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I was surprised. Ramen was delicious!

Some shouting drew my attention away from my cup.

"Hey, what about Hinata-chan?" Naruto-kun asked.

"What about her?"

"Doesn't she get some cookies too?" It was then that I saw that Naruto-kun had a cookie in his hand. Hanabi had a small pile of them sitting next to her. I think she had found them from between the tablecloths.

Hanabi bit into her cookie before shaking her head no.

Then you can have this Hinata-chan.

My eyes flickered over to Hanabi. There was a hint of outrage on her face.

I tried to refuse it. "N-Naruto-kun, I-I..."

Naruto-kun wouldn't take no for an answer. He dropped it in my lap before picking up his cup of ramen and continuing to eat.

Soon he was shaking the thermos. "Aww, no more hot water."

I nearly dropped my cup when Naruto's stomach growled. That was loud. He turned to Hanabi, "Hey Nabi-chan, can I have another cookie."

Hanabi stopped eating her cookie to glare at him. She shook her head no.

"What, why not?"

I picked up the cookie that Naruto-kun had just given to me and held it out to him.

"No no, you've gotta try these cookies Hinata-chan. Skuld-chan has Super Cooking-kun make them but she uses Bell-chan's recipe. They're really good!"

_Skuld-chan? Super Cooking-kun? Bell-chan? _I watched as he turned back to Hanabi. "C'mon Nabi-chan! Gimme one!"

Hanabi shook her head before moving to block the pile.

"Another one! It's all I'm asking." Naruto-kun said as he leaned forward.

"If you are quiet, I might let you have one." Hanabi finally said as she pushed him away.

Naruto-kun suddenly sat down and fell quiet. But he continued to stare at Hanabi.

Hanabi finished off her cookie, an amused expression on her face. She was taunting Naruto-kun.

By the third cookie however, Hanabi had a troubled look on her face. She finally looked away. "Stop staring..."

Naruto continued to stare.

I could see that Hanabi was trying and failing to finish her third cookie. She finally picked up a cookie from the pile and threw it at him. "Here."

A surge of elation grew within me when I saw Naruto-kun win.

"Yes!" Naruto-kun cried out as he picked up the cookie and wolfed it down in a single bite. He settled down and started to stare at Hanabi again.

-o-o-o-o-o-

After our lunch, Hanabi seemed to have more energy now.

We came to a waterfall.

It was beautiful. And the sound of the rushing water was relaxing. A hand waved before me. I turned and took a step back when I realized that Naruto was right next to me.

"C'mon Hinata-chan! It's right under there!"

There was a large hole behind the waterfall. It was easily visible when we saw it from the side.

Before I could follow, something caught my attention, and I turned toward the opposing bank of the lake.

"Hinata-chan! What are you waiting for?" Naruto shouted as he appeared from the hole and beckoned towards me before disappearing back inside again.

"I-I thought..."

_I thought I had seen someone..._

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi was standing at the entrance, making no move to enter.

Nabi-chan! This isn't time for you to be scared of the dark!

I was surprised. Hanabi was afraid of the dark?

"I'm not scared." she denied calmly.

But we couldn't proceed deeper because it looked like it was too dark to see. We waited at the entrance as Naruto-kun searched for a light source so we could go deeper...

Hanabi suddenly paused. "Did it get darker all of a sudden?" She asked, a slight tremor in her voice.

"Huh?"

The ground shook and Hanabi fell over. We turned to see what caused it.

_Oh my god..._

"Run!" Naruto-kun shouted. He wanted us to run back the way we came.

"We can't! It's blocking the entrance!" Hanabi shouted back in a terrified voice.

"Go in!" Naruto yelled at me, giving me a push before he ran over to Hanabi, barely dodging a swipe from the long bony fingers.

I turned and ran deeper into the cave.

Heavy footsteps sounded behind me as the creature followed.

-o-o-o-o-o-

We hadn't needed a flashlight after all. The deeper we ran into the cave, the more the walls seemed to glow with a bluish color. We finally had to stop. By now, the walls emitted plenty of light to see by.

"Why'd you stop?!" Naruto-kun demanded.

"W-we can't go any farther," I told the other two as they ran up to me.

They turned to look. "It's a dead end."

The skeletal monster lumbered into view. It towered over us as it approached.

"Now what?!" Hanabi shrieked.

Naruto picked up a rock. "Stand back. When you get the chance, run." With that, he threw the rock. It missed the creature completely. "Hey ugly!" he shouted as he ran in.

"Naruto." Hanabi whispered beside me before she fell into the traditional Jyuuken stance while forming several familiar seals. She reached the end of the sequence and concentrated, "Byakugan!" she cried out and veins formed around her eyes.

Before I could remind Hanabi that Naruto wanted us to run, she charged in after him.

I was torn. Was I supposed to help them or was I supposed to listen to Naruto-kun's instructions?

Before I could do anything, I was knocked back as something crashed into me. I fell in an ungainly manner, dragging whoever had crashed into me down to the rocky floor.

I raised my head. It was Hanabi.

"Go! Run!" Naruto-kun shouted before he tried to tackle the monster, only to be grabbed in midair and thrown at an opposing wall.

_Naruto-kun! _"Ha-Hanabi! We-" I wanted to tell Hanabi that we had to escape except she wasn't listening. When I saw her run past the monster, I suddenly realized that was what she had in mind. The monster turned to her.

"Go Hinata-chan!" Naruto-kun shouted again as he dived. He grabbed onto the monster's feet, causing it to look down with empty sockets.

Hanabi suddenly turned around and ran for the creature. She struck it in the hip, blasting the leg off with an uncontrolled burst of chakra. She immediately pointed her palm upwards.

The monster's skeletal rib cage shattered under the second large assault of chakra. The recoil from the blast caused it to sway, it was off-balance.

Naruto-kun was under the monster when it started to teeter on its single leg. The entire thing fell upon him and he let out a grunt. When the smoke cleared however, Naruto-kun was standing outside of the pile of bones. He was fine.

"We did it!" he cheered.

Both of them slowly walked up to me.

Hanabi was pale. She was in danger of chakra-exhaustion. She did not have a large chakra reserve to begin with and those two attacks must have drained most of what she had.

It was Naruto-kun that frightened me however. The disappointed expression on his face made me realize that I had done nothing to help. I felt ashamed.

"It's just like her. Weak." Hanabi said with a hint of self-satisfaction before she winced and clutched her side.

"She's not weak, Nabi-chan!" Naruto sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"She is WEAK!"

"She's not!"

It was then that I saw the skull rise above the ground. Several bones from the pile attached to it. It was pulling itself together.

The monster was still alive! But Naruto-kun and Hanabi were too wrapped up in their arguing to notice.

I had to do something before the monster repaired itself.

"She's weak!"

...but I was weak...

"She is not!"

...I didn't want to see Naruto's disappointed face again. I didn't. I didn't!

The monster was just standing up when my bloodline finished activating. The monster was a giant torch of chakra. In addition, it had no chakra pathways at all. My worry grew when I realized that I could not see its tenketsu's. I know I could not see them normally, but for something emitting this much chakra, they should be easy to see...even for a Hyuuga with an inferior bloodline.

What could I do?

_It didn't matter,_ I soon decided when I saw the abomination rear up and prepare to attack. I ran in and aimed for a random spot on monster's pelvis praying that I hit a Tenketsu. My strike connected, and it cracked under my attack. I was surprised, I had not expected the creature to be this fragile. The entire creature started to collapse as its pelvis split apart under its weight and the legs gave way. Only this time it did not break apart when it hit the ground.

There was no time to plan my attacks. When it came, I just reacted. And the incoming arm retreated when I split one of the two forearm bones after successfully blocking the attack and then countering with everything I had. _I-I could do this!_

I quickly struck again, this time the entire arm was now being supported by a sliver of bone. I was confused. How was Hanabi able to shatter the entire structure in a single strike? I know that she was able to see tenketsus normally, but I couldn't help but feel that a vast gulf separated us in terms of power..

The ground shook. That was all the warning I had before a spear of bone ripped up through the ground and pierced the spot that I had been standing moments before. The spear suddenly became limp.

As I waited for the attack, I realized that there was something strange about the monster's chakra.

And then it whipped towards me.

I was about to dodge it when something hit me from behind and I stumbled forward. I barely ducked the incoming whip in time. Something had entered from my blind spot. I turned around to see what. To my dismay, I realized it was the arm that I had destroyed earlier, only it was whole once again.

How could we defeat it if it kept reforming?

The tail lashed out at me again and I sidestepped and caught it. It lost all semblance of life when it broke apart in my grasp.

"Yeah, go Hinata-chan!"

A surge of confidence welled up within me when Naruto-kun praised me. However, when bony fingers wrapped around me, I knew that that distraction had cost me. The creature had somehow grown another pair of hands and I was now trapped within its grip. I struggled, but I couldn't break free. For some unknown reason the monster's fragility had disappeared.

It was because of chakra, I soon realized. Everytime I had attacked before, I was using chakra to enhance my physical attack.

I was helpless. I could not use Hakkeshou Kaiten because I was unable to release chakra from all of my tenketsus.

I watched with horror as I was pulled towards the creatures chest. The rib cage closed around me with a snap and I felt myself lifted into the air as the creature stood up.

Then the bones started to tighten around me. Soon I couldn't breathe and my body was starting to give under the crushing pressure. I tried not to cry out in pain. To be strong for Naruto-kun. It hurt, but strangely I didn't feel fear.

Black spots started to appear in my vision, whether from the crushing pressures or the lack of air, I didn't know. Through the dim haze, I barely saw Hanabi charge forward with Naruto, desperation on their faces.

It was strange, as I was dying, the only thing I could think about was what was wrong with the monster's chakra. After looking at Hanabi and Naruto, I realized that the monster's chakra coils were not circulating. How could that be?

"Get away from my sister," I distantly heard Hanabi shout.

"Hanabi" I tried to shout, "get away."

"Look out!" Naruto-kun barreled into my little sister, taking her out of harm's way just in time. He was struck by a skeletal hand right after.

"Naruto!" I heard Hanabi cry. I wanted to call for him as well.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crack, and a severe jolt of pain shot through my chest. I couldn't hold it back anymore and I cried out, emptying out whatever air I had left.

I saw the two stand up when they heard my scream but I couldn't do anything...

My eyelids felt heavy...

The world became blurry...

_Naruto...kun..._

-o-o-o-o-o-

I slowly opened my eyes. _What happened?_

Oh.

It was strange. I thought I would be in more pain, especially since I remember feeling a bone break. Right now, my ribs felt a little sore and I had a headache, but I felt fine overall.

Whispers drew my attention to my right.

Someone was conversing with Naruto-kun. I heard Naruto-kun say the word 'bug'. What could that mean?

"Quiet...it looks like they're starting to wake up."

An unknown woman suddenly appeared before me and poked my chest. I gasped. She immediately recoiled. "Sorry. How much did that hurt?"

"It-it didn't. I was j-just surprised." I quickly answered.

"Oh." The strange woman suddenly smirked and leaned in. "You're very well-developed for your age, aren't you?" there was a hint of laughter in her voice. "Quite sensitive too." she whispered into my ear.

I felt my face heat up. Did she say what I think she just said? "A-Are you a doctor?"

"Of course-"

"-not." Naruto-kun jumped in. I turned to face him. "The hag calls herself a love-doctor but she's horrible at it."

The woman immediately reached for Naruto-kun. "Die brat!"

Naruto-kun was in danger! But I didn't know what I could do...

I didn't have to do anything...

Instead of running away, Naruto-kun bravely stayed in his spot and threw a round object at the woman.

BOOM!

From the corner of my eye, I saw Hanabi suddenly sit up at the sound of the explosion. When I heard a hacking sound, my attention returned to the threat at hand. We were still in danger.

I was wrong. The woman had calmed down greatly by now. She coughed a few more times before she calmly pushed herself off of the ground. "My sister and I are going to have a long talk." she growled angrily as she smoothed out her blackened hair.

I felt a pair of eyes burning into my back. Turning, I saw Hanabi clutching her head with a hand. She was staring at me strangely. When she caught sight of my gaze, she suddenly turned away, "Weak."

"She's not weak. Didn't you see her kick ass?" Naruto-kun shouted as he appeared in front of Hanabi. "Bam, boom, pow! She was dodging and hitting like no-"

"Shut up!" Hanabi yelled out as she used her free hand to push herself off of the ground. She suddenly covered her mouth.

"?!"

Hanabi looked like she wanted to say something. "Mmf" instead, she turned away. Right before she turned, I caught sight of an irritated expression on her face.

"Uhh, Nabi-chan?"

"I can't believe it, hanging out with you makes me stupider!"

Naruto-kun burst out laughing. "Stupider isn't even a word!"

"It is too!"

"Skuld-chan says it isn't!"

I had to do something. "A-Ano," I squeaked, and they turned to me. "you...shouldn't fight." I finished lamely.

Someone started laughing, and we all turned to her.

"Quite the ladies' man, huh boy?" The bronze skinned lady.

"What are you talking about? And where's the treasure anyway ya hag?!"

Bonk!

"Ow!"

"Treasure huh? If you mean this," she reached into the small pool and pulled out a small bottle. "You're too young."

"Am not! You just want to hog it all to yourself!"

"Hahahaha, you're right. Well then, I leave everything to you loverboy, get em home." She popped off the lid of the bottle and took a long drink. "Mmm, good stuff." She laughed again as she walked toward the mouth of the cave.

When the strange woman's laughter stopped echoing off of the walls, Naruto-kun finally turned to us and asked, "So uhh, is everyone okay?"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Naruto was quiet as we left the mouth of the cave. "Sorry everyone, I thought there was treasure here. Skuld-chan said that her sisters liked to come here whenever they visited."

"Skuld-chan?" I questioned. I remember hearing Naruto-kun mention that name.

"She's my best friend! We live together." A smile appeared on his face when he said this.

"Oh," I couldn't help but feel disappointment when I heard that.

"What's wrong Hinata-chan?"

"N-nothing!" I heard myself squawk. Agh, how embarrassing.

I quickly turned around to hide my face.

"Hinata-chan?" I distantly heard him ask. But I was occupied with the scene before me. The sun was setting, casting the waterfall in a brilliant reddish glow.

It was beautiful.

"Oi, Nabi-chan, let's go. Wait, are you admiring the view too?!"

"Of course you uncultured buffoon."

"What did you just call me?!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

It was dark when we reached home. Father awaited us at the front door.

"Hanabi..." He said in a no-nonsense voice. He turned to Naruto-kun. "This is your fault I suppose?"

Instead of backing down, Naruto-kun stepped in front of Hanabi and glared up at father.

I wanted to pull him away, tell him that father was not a man to be trifled with. But I watched, and prayed that father would be lenient.

Father looked somewhat annoyed, but I watched in surprise as he relaxed. He gave Naruto a firm nod that seemed to say that Hanabi was not in trouble. Naruto-kun stepped aside and Hanabi was free to walk forward.

My sister and father both went into the mansion.

I didn't know what to say. Did Naruto-kun just win? Against father?

I was about to follow after my sister and father when Naruto called out to me. "Wait, Hinata-chan."

I slowly turned to him.

"Give this to Nabi-chan."

I stared at the rough orange stone that seemed to dance with light, when I took it, I suddenly felt stronger.

He pulled something from his pocket. "And here."

He gave me a smooth stone that was giving off a soft green glow that was almost soothing. It felt like I was floating.

They looked unnatural, yet they were beautiful.

"I know we didn't find any treasure, so I'm going to give you my treasures instead. Skuld-chan's sisters made them for me, one of them makes you feel more confident, the other makes you feel happier."

"Naruto-kun, I couldn't!" I was surprised to realize that I had said that without stuttering! Was it because of the stones? All of a sudden, I didn't want him to take them back.

He didn't. "Bye!" he shouted at me, giving me a thumbs up before he ran off.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Hanabi was standing challengingly in front of father when I entered our home. She looked at me for one brief moment.

"It is time to train daughter."

"I wish for Onee-san to join us." Hanabi demanded.

I was startled when I heard Hanabi say that. Even father looked surprised.

"In order to develop your full potential, I can only train one of you at a time." he said with a voice that meant that the conversation was over.

I saw my sister shrink slightly and back down. She passed me as she walked off to prepare for training. Sorry Hanabi...it's for the best.

Before I could feel disappointed, I felt her take something from my hand before she stepped in front of me again and stood to her full height. "Then train Oneesan."

_Something was missing. Which one did she take?!_ I wondered frantically, wanting it back. I didn't like how it was missing.

"You would sacrifice your chance to grow stronger?" father demanded.

I turned around to see Hanabi glaring at father. But her mouth remained tightly closed.

"Answer me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because Oneesan isn't weak."

I felt Hanabi slip something into my pocket before she took my hand.

"And neither am I."

She squeezed my hand. All of a sudden, even though I could feel both in my pocket, both stones seemed to have disappeared. But I felt something so much stronger had replaced them.

I looked over. I don't know why I had worried. Even if the Council was strong...even if Father was strong...Hanabi was not going to bow to them. And maybe...maybe, neither should I.

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Omake! Ichi!

I was shocked to find that they were glowing even more brightly than before. I was positive that they were stronger, but I couldn't feel their effects.

My door slid open, and I turned to look.

I want the orange one. Hanabi demanded as she entered my room.

I shook my head quickly.

"Then give me the green one."

I shook my head again.

"..."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Give me both then."

I slowly closed the drawer that I had carefully placed them.

Standing up from my chair, I gave her a challenging glare before I shifted into a stance that suggested that I was prepared for combat. Naruto-kun gave them to me, so they were mine. If I had to use force to tell Hanabi this, then I hope she was prepared to lose.

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Omake! Ni!

Naruto opened the door. His eyes widened when they fell upon me.

"Wow Hinata-chan, you actually came!"

I couldn't say anything, but I felt heat rush up to my face.

"Are you feeling okay Hinata-chan? You look really red!"

A taller black-haired girl walked up to the door. "Is something wrong Naruto?" I felt my eyes widen. She was beautiful! I felt depressed when I compared myself to her. She turned to me, and I felt warmth and friendliness in her gaze but there was a deeper feeling, like she was finding something from me. And then that deeper feeling disappeared while the warmth grew until it seemed to envelope my entire body. I remember feeling depressed, but I can't remember why anymore.

She turned to me. "Naruto says that you feel sick."

"No no, I-I think I'm okay." I squeaked out.

"Oh." Naruto said before he turned to the unknown girl. He turned back. "Have you met Skuld-chan yet Hinata-chan?"

I shook my head.

"Okay! This is Skuld-chan! She's really smart, but don't enter her room or she'll get mad."

A hint of irritation appeared on Skuld's face. "No I won't."

"And Skuld, this is Hinata-chan! She looks like Hanabi because she's her sister, but in reality, Hinata-chan is much much nicer."

Skuld beckoned me inside. "Pleased to meet you Hyuuga-san. Please come in."

I entered and looked around. This was Naruto-kun's home? It was...I liked it. It was nice and comfortable, but a bit small.

"Hey!" Naruto-kun suddenly shouted.

I turned around in time to see Hanabi and Skuld slam the door shut. Knocking and shouting was soon heard from the other side of the door. It was then that I realized that Skuld and Hanabi had thrown Naruto-kun out.

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Omake! San!

"Hanabi!" She snapped loudly.

Naruto looked at her questioningly. "Nabi-chan?"

"If you wish to call Oneesan, Hinata-chan, you will address me as Hanabi-chan." She paused for a brief moment to think about what she had just said, "Hanabi-sama." she corrected.

"..." a playful look appeared on Naruto's face. "Hina-sama!" he called out, turning to Hinata's direction.

Hinata stopped conversing with Skuld to turn to Naruto. A moment passed. And then Hinata's face turned a bright red and steam seemed to leave her ears when she realized what Naruto had just called her.

"..." everyone watched the elder Hyuuga sister flop bonelessly onto the couch. She made no move afterwards, even when Miya crept up and started poking her curiously.

Naruto was the first to speak. "...What just happened?"

Hanabi panicked. "You broke Oneesan!"

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Chapter Preview!

"Okay everyone! Jiraiya's death!" Naruto shouted as he walked onto the stage with a microphone in hand. "What's up with that? We have a full house tonight, and I would personally like to thank everyone for attending this preview."

He didn't see the yellow blur until it was too late.

BOOM

Several lighting fixtures fizzled as Naru-chan sat up. "When am I going to appear again!" she wailed.

"Get offa me Naru-chan!"

Naru-chan suddenly realized just where she was. "Mmm." she cozily laid down on top of Naruto. "No."

Naruto's female alternate suddenly felt herself being yanked upwards.

"What? Hey!"

"I have her." Hanabi shouted as she struggled to hold the older girl in place.

"Lemme go you brat!" Naru-chan shouted as she tried to poke out an eye.

"Okay! Our next chapter will take us back to the past, where I meet Skuld-chan's lovely sisters."

Hanabi paused. "I won't be present?" she asked, a hint of venom in her voice.

"Not this time." Naruto said with a grin, completely ignoring the warning signs.

Miya appeared at just the right time. "But I'll be there, right Mr. Naruto?"

Naruto cringed. "...sorry Miya-chan."

∗Sniff∗ "Miss Skuld you bully! Waaah!"

"What did I do?!" a confused girl asked from off-stage as she stopped manning the control panel to watch the catgirl run off..

"Miya-chan!" Naruto called out as he moved to chase her. He was tackled by a pair of irate girls before he could move.

"We will appear or else..." Hanabi coldly demanded.

"Skuld-chan, help!" Naruto cried out.

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**Magic Shop**

Where there're goddesses, there's magic.

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**Urd and Belldandy's Magical Stones**

- They look like polished rocks, but they glow with a beautiful light.  
- The orange stone instills confidence into the bearer.  
- The green stone instills calmness and happiness into the bearer.  
- Both stones are good and bad. They're great as pick-me-ups, but you must never rely on them. I have to emphasize that the moods they induce are artificial.  
- It sounds cheesy, but love and trust are better than the stones. It's why the stones lose a lot of their effect when you have someone or something to believe in.

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Character Data Sheet:

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**Hinata Hyuuga  
**Daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi as well as possible heir to the Hyuuga clan. A mousy girl who believes greatly in Naruto.  
Age: 12  
Birthday: December 27  
Blood Type: A  
Immediate Family: Hiashi Hyuuga (Father), Hanabi Hyuuga (Younger Sister)

- Recommended positions in a formation are support and backup. Hold back for assault and seduction roles.  
- Lacks self confidence  
- Not a risk-taker.  
- Hard Worker

- Often indecisive  
- Intelligent, but lacks common sense sometimes  
- Hinata lacks the ability to improvise on the fly.

- Hinata tends to react strangely when Naruto is around.  
- Hinata tends to break away from her usually timid self when around Naruto, such as going out of her way to help him or putting more effort into something because he is nearby.  
- Naruto's presence tends to make Hinata set aside her fears and misgivings.  
- She also becomes more assertive on Naruto's behalf, and once she realizes that people do listen to her, she won't hesitate to defend him from those who dare to slander his name, even from himself.

- Hinata loves her sister dearly.

- If I recall correctly, combat-wise, Hinata cannot see tenketsu at this point in time.  
- Hinata possesses a very large blind spot (95°). Most of it is self-inflicted. If she has more confidence, she can easily reduce it quite a bit.

**Hanabi Hyuuga**  
Hanabi is Hinata's younger sister, and quite different personality-wise. She's 4 and a half years younger than Naruto.  
- Member of the Main family. Possible Heir  
- Age: 7  
- Birthdate: March 27  
- Blood Type: A  
- Known Immediate Family: Hiashi Hyuuga (Father), Hinata Hyuuga (Sister)

- Hanabi isn't the type to think for herself when she's young.  
- Hanabi is that type of younger sibling that does almost everything better than the elder.

Traits:  
- Polite  
- Shy (Not as much as Hinata)  
- Proud  
- Holds her father in high esteem  
- Intelligent (Not a Genius. However, the Hyuuga's wealth gives her access to the best. In addition, a desire to please her father drives her to learn.)  
- Rich  
- Lives in the present  
- Generally calm, but if you push her far enough, she becomes impulsive.  
- Socially weak  
- Selfish  
- naïve  
- Observant  
- Easily-Influenced

Future Traits:  
Future (Good) – Naruto enters her life early.  
Playful  
Trusting  
Sneaky  
Proud

Future (Bad) – Naruto does not enter her life.  
Cruel  
Paranoid  
Manipulative  
Arrogant

Notes:  
- Hanabi is Hanabi. She's not an ice-queen, nor is she a spoiled brat. She's a rich girl in a confining family.  
- Hanabi usually isn't stubborn. There is one thing where she will stick her foot down though...  
- Hanabi's schemes are pretty complicated. Too complicated actually, and they end up failing because something unexpected always happens.

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A/N:

Just because I loathe romances between Naruto and Hinata doesn't mean I think little of her character. Hinata is interesting. In truth, if you take my personality and add kindness, you'd get something quite close to Hinata. It's why I could type up this chapter without much role-play involved.

I thought this adventure was fun. Hope you enjoyed it.

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Acknowledgements:

**Quathis**, **Xbud**, **The Great Rick**, and **Megaolix **for their votes on the balloon. I tried my best, but it's hard to show Hinata panicking in a funny manner when she's just stalking Naruto at this time. Her admiration hasn't developed to the point where she'd start search for a stake to drive into the balloon's heart.

**Quathis** for the funny yet insightful comment about an overweight Sakura balloon.


	12. Extra 2: Summary

**News:  
**5/19/08 – Hanabi's special is up. In addition, most of the chapters have a better introduction. Credits go to Xbud and others for pointing out how easy it is to get lost when bouncing around the timeline.

3/14/08 – Skuld's Chapter, 8, is up. In addition, most of the chapters have had varying degrees of revisions. Chapters 2 and 3 have been swapped. Chapters 3 (after swap) and 4 have been heavily revised. **  
**6/17/07 – Miya-centric tale posted for chapter 7. **  
**4/14/07 – Banpei II-san's (Robot Hijinks) story rewritten and replaced. Please take a look, I promise it'll be worth your time. Hanabi's chapter (Fireworks) has also been heavily edited to fix the flow and improve your experience.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Wish to an End Timeline o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**Naruto, Age 10**

**Chapter 1:** February. Makes a wish to have a goddess be with him forever.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

**Chapter 2: **February. Banpei II-san.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

**Chapter 8:** March. Skuld's reasons. (Newest Chapter)  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld

_**Chapter 10:**__- Secret -  
_

__

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**Naruto, Age 11**

**Chapter 3:** October, Naruto's 11th Birthday. A new friend of the feline persuasion.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya

**Chapter 4: **April. Naruto and Skuld meet Hanabi.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya, Hanabi

**Chapter 9: **May. Hanabi-centric tale.  
Characters: Naruto, Hanabi, Hinata

**Chapter 7:** June. Miya-centric tale.  
Characters: Miya

**Chapter 5: **October, near Naruto's 12th Birthday. Travel to another dimension.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Naru-chan

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**Naruto, Age 12**

**Chapter 6:** October, Naruto's 12th Birthday. Departing from the other dimension.  
Characters: Naruto, Skuld, Miya, Hanabi, Naru-chan

_**Chapter 11: **__- Secret -_

_**Chapter 12: **__- Secret -_

_**Chapter 13: **__- Secret -_

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Summary o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-  
**

**Chapter 1: Important event – Naruto & Skuld appear (1****st**** and 2****nd**** character)  
**5 months after Naruto turns 10

- Naruto is pranked when he's trying to prank  
- Naruto is given the chance to make a wish.  
- Naruto makes a wish that forces Skuld to stay with him.

**Chapter 2: Important event – Banpei II-san appears (3****rd**** Character)  
**8 Months before chapter 2  
1 week after Chapter 1

- Naruto and Skuld do not get along very well.  
- First time that Skuld leaves the apartment  
- Skuld discovers how Konoha treats Naruto. She's not willing to do anything about it.  
- Belldandy visits. (Need to be checked for Keiichi). Prods Skuld into doing something.  
- Banpei II-san is created and introduced, goes berserk, and subsequently demolished. Banpei II-san is then rebuilt.  
- It might seem strange how Skuld would have a powerplant a week into her stay. However, she was integrated into this world. These devices and tools were fabricated with Skuld's 'fake' history.  
- There are hints that Skuld doesn't attend the ninja academy often.

**Chapter 3: Important event – Miya appears (4****th**** character)  
**8 months after Skuld started staying with Naruto

- The villagers are as cruel as ever.  
- Skuld and Naruto prank each other from time to time  
- Skuld is distracted when she's inventing.  
- It's Naruto's 11th birthday. This chapter reveals the origins of the 4th character in the story, the pure-hearted Miya.

**Chapter 4: Important event – Hanabi appears (5****th**** Character)**

6 Months after Naruto's 11th birthday  
6 months after Miya is created  
14 months from the beginning of the story  
14 months after Chapter 3

- Naruto and Skuld meet Hanabi.  
- Naruto provides Hanabi an escape from the confining Hyuuga way of life  
- A few months previous, they had started a small business to take advantage of Skuld's inventions.  
- Character development for Hanabi.  
- Hiashi is  
- Minor hints about where the story is going.

**Chapter 5: Important event – Naru-chan appears (6****th**** Character)  
**A few days before Naruto's 12th birthday  
18 months from the beginning of the story  
4 months after meeting Hanabi  
4 months after Chapter 4

- Naruto and Skuld are sent to an alternate dimension. In order to return to their home dimension, they need parts. To get the parts, they need money.  
- They use their savings to keep Ichiraku's afloat.  
- The Hyuuga don't take too kindly to trespassers. If it weren't for the Hokage, Naruto and Skuld's tale may have ended early.  
- Naruto finds a way to solve the money problem.  
- Air of mystery sort of surrounds Naruto's counterpart. Clues that Naruto's counterpart isn't an exact double of Naruto.

- The Hanabi in this dimension nearly causes Naruto to lose faith in himself.

**Chapter 6: Important event – Naru-chan's Character Development**

It's Naruto's 12th birthday  
4 months after meeting Hanabi  
18 months from the beginning of the story  
A few days after Chapter 5

- Naru-chan thought that Skuld rigged the birthday decorations for her. Who knew that both Narutos shared the same birthday?  
- Miya and Hanabi come looking for Naruto and Skuld. Hanabi is captured.  
- It's the anniversary of Kyuubi's death. It's dangerous for both Narutos to be out today.  
- Remember those strips of cloth from Chapter 2?  
- Lots of fighting and rescues going on in this chapter.  
- Naruto, Skuld, and Hanabi return to their home dimension with Miya safely tucked away.  
- Naru-chan prevented the destruction of the teleporter, and she's a bit angry at Naruto for nearly destroying her apartment.  
- Miya-chan has an improved body. Loses combat mode.  
- Business sold.

**Chapter 7: Important event – Miya-chan's Character Development  
**2 months after meeting Hanabi  
15 months from the beginning of the story  
3 months before Chapter 6.

- Hints that Skuld's security systems tend to be a bit destructive  
- Miya-centric tale. Naruto and Skuld have left her behind. Has she been abandoned? No. But she doesn't know that.

**Chapter 8: Important event – Skuld's Character Development  
**A month or so from the beginning of the story  
14 months before Chapter 7

- Skuld's security systems are a bit dangerous  
- Samurobo  
- Skuld tolerates Naruto, but she doesn't like him.  
- Hints about why gods hate nins.  
- Banpei II-san is destroyed again.  
- The Third is the villain in this chapter.

**Chapter 9: Important event – Hanabi's Character Development  
**A month after meeting Hanabi  
13 months after Chapter 8

- Hanabi does not get along with Hinata  
- Hanabi does not think for herself  
- Hanabi does not trust Naruto yet  
- Hanabi still keeps to herself  
- All these change as Naruto, Hinata, and Hanabi go on an adventure together.  
- Told from Hinata's POV

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o News o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Progress o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Chapter 1 – Stable  
Chapter 2 – Stable  
Chapter 3 – Stable  
Chapter 4 – Stable  
Chapter 5 - Unstable  
Chapter 6 - Unstable  
Chapter 7 – Stable  
Chapter 8 - Stable  
Chapter 9 - Stable  
Chapter 10 – Drafting  
Chapter 11 – Unwritten  
Chapter 12 – Unwritten  
Chapter 13 - Unwritten

**Notes:**  
I plan to swap Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 once I finish rewriting Chapter 2. The reason is in Chapter 3...specifically "insert 2 coins." - Swap complete.

Chapter 6 is the confusing one. It was so long that I split it into two parts, so it stole two chapter slots (Chapter 6 and Chapter 7). Chapter 7 will then pop up as Chapter 8. See, confusing...so don't think about it and just look at the chapter titles.

Stable means that I have no immediate plans for a major revision. Minor revisions will occur from time to time however.


End file.
